The Power of Seven
by avtorSola
Summary: With the establishment of the SRD, his control over the Infinity Stones growing day by day, and the Avengers at his back, it seems that he's safe. But something is stirring in the shadows, determined to capture him and use his new abilities for malicious purposes. He only has one chance to get this right -because if he doesn't, the universe will fall. NOW CONTINUING!
1. Practice Makes Perfect

_**A/N:**_ It's out! Yay! However, I will give you fair warning - this story may have very slow updates. I am not as far in as I had hoped, and now I am also writing a LotR story (which I'm excited about). But without further ado, here are the first TWO chapters of _The Power of Seven._

* * *

 _"_ _Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"_ _Zanpakutou speaking"_

 ** _"_** ** _Japanese"_**

It was quite pretty, he decided finally, watching the faint strands of color interweave in his mind's eye. And it would be mesmerizing had he not understood and known what each fibrous filament represented. It was as if he was seeing Spirit Ribbons again, tracking his peers for the first time since his Academy days. Selecting one at random, he followed it with a telepathic finger, the vast capacity of his brain instantly analyzing and memorizing.

 _"_ _I am…I am…I am…"_

The voice was soft, a broken record, but it made him smile nevertheless. Every day the six others in his head – excluding Hyourinmaru, as he made seven – made a little more progress. Today, it seemed that Yellow was beginning to attempt describing itself. A big step, Toushiro knew, still listening quietly to Yellow's baby thoughts, blooming underneath his touch.

"Toushiro, my father says that lunch is ready, when you wish to eat."

Thor's deep rumble broke into the delicate filigree of his tenuous telepathy, and without warning the connection between his mind and the infant consciousnesses shattered – all save one. The Tesseract's blue power gleamed brightly on his collarbone, set into his skin, and it alone had flourished with the constant contact with his mind. By its glowing blue mark, five other small patches of color stained the smooth porcelain white of his skin beneath, each of which held a place for the other five Infinity Stones. They looped down over his chest like a large necklace like an oddly shaped sort of tattoo. One of two he now possessed.

 _"_ _Hitsugaya-niitan! Nii-tan! Nii-tan!"_ Blue chirped anxiously at the back of his mind, the gentle buzz of the feminine voice still warped by lack of practice. Toushiro winced – Blue was the only one which could actually throw mental shouts at him now, and the sudden cranial noise still hurt him. If he had to guess, then Blue's mental age would be about equivalent to that of a four-year-old. A four-year-old Yachiru. Ergo, _ouch_.

 _"_ _Easy, Blue. It's Thor."_

The Tesseract's budding consciousness fell silent, satisfied, and then the last dregs of Toushiro's new mindscape vanished. Slowly, the room came back into focus. He sat cross-legged on a soft green cushion, his hands curved neatly in his lap, facing a wide window with a view that overlooked Odin's city below. He blinked, his eyes dry from staying open for so long, and without warning realized that he – and the cushion beneath him – were floating about a foot in the air.

"Bloody hell." He muttered, raking his fingers through unruly white hair and concentrating. Slowly, the cushion drifted back to the floor, and he sighed tiredly. "I keep doing that without realizing it…"

Thor's appreciative laugh came from the gilded doorway, and Hitsugaya stood and turned, the soft white and blue tunic he wore flaring out around his narrow hips, his left eye fading from Tesseract-blue to his natural green as the Space Stone withdrew from his mind. He rolled his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching like a cat to reawaken his stiff muscles.

"How long was I meditating for that time?" he asked, his voice a low groan. He felt rather weak, as if he'd been asleep for several weeks. Thor's fond grin never faded, though his brow did knit together in puzzlement.

"Four and a half days." He replied simply. A frown flitted across the blond thundergod's face. "The length of your trances worries me."

Hitsugaya scuffed the sole of his boot against the floor, the flexible grey leather supple against his foot. He shrugged blandly.

"That's why I'm trying to coax the other five into full sentience as quickly as I can while I'm here." He said tartly. "I know I'm vulnerable when I meditate like that. Hence why I'm not back in Soul Society. I don't want to be assassinated in my…whatever the hell I'm actually doing."

Thor nodded understandingly, somewhat amused by Toushiro's obvious disdain for his newfound powers. Together, the odd pair walked down the hallway, Thor keeping a watchful eye on the white, star/flower-shaped tattoo over the boy's eyebrow, ready to warn him should one of the Stones activate without warning. The demigod remembered the first time that the young shinigami had lost control with a slight shudder – this second tattoo and his left eye had turned blood red. And he'd nearly destroyed an entire room. It had been sheer luck that the teenager had been able to regain his lucidity and rein in the Reality Stone's power in time.

"That was an accident!" Toushiro suddenly snapped, gold creeping across the tattoo over his brow and lightening the emerald of half his stare into golden beryl. Thor raised an eyebrow.

"I said nothing aloud, Toushiro." He reminded calmly, allowing the telepathic invasion of his mind to slide. "Nor do I blame you for that incident. You've come a long way since then."

Winter flashed in Hitsugaya's eyes, a snowstorm of shamed recognition passing across his face. He couldn't always tell when he was using telepathy or telekinesis, especially after he'd been interacting with the other six stones. It took a while for him to readjust to the physical world.

"Well, it's been two months since I started training." He acknowledged, grateful for the Asgardian's understanding. Odin hadn't been happy the first time that Toushiro's telepathic abilities had allowed him to unconsciously access the old king's thoughts. Thor, however, was less judgmental.

They arrived at the soldiers' dining hall silently and stood idly in the wide doorway for several long minutes, observing the myriad members of Odin's elite personal guard eating in small clusters, all grinning and speaking animatedly with their fellows. Then the young shinigami let out an audible sigh and stepped into the throng of gold-armored guards, Thor keeping a pace behind him out of respect. As Toushiro passed by, the Asgardian soldiers all stopped what they were doing, be it eating or talking, and gave the shinigami captain a deep bow.

"Lord Hitsugaya." One of them intoned respectfully, catching Hitsugaya's attention. "Are you well? You have not been seen for some days."

Toushiro shot the man a cool, composed look, a passing flicker of irritation flashing over the shinigami's pale face at the ornery title. Odin had insisted that he and – somewhat begrudgingly – Steve assume noble status while in Asgard. It gave them a measure of immunity against the typical laws of the alien realm, and alerted most of the citizens to their importance. Of course, Hitsugaya had been bestowed with a higher title than Steve had, given that Odin valued the alliance with the shinigami more than the alliance with SHIELD and the Avengers, but it was a magnanimous gesture nonetheless.

"Aside from the fact that I still can't quite tell if I'm losing my mind or not, then yes, I'm well." He replied dryly. "I have been training."

The Asgardian nodded then, fully aware of what 'training' meant for the young man. He gestured to the table, smiling again.

"If you're looking for something light to start you off, I'd recommend heading away from any stew or casserole you see today, Your Grace." He advised seriously, though humor twitched at his lips. "Most are rather thick."

Hitsugaya took the information in stride, a perfunctory nod of thanks his only response, and set about making himself a plate of food. The atmosphere of the room, once light and rather jovial, had tightened into a quiet sort of politeness. The frozen wisps of Toushiro's personality seemed to instantly silence any thought of mischief. Even when the young shinigami wasn't paying any heed to what was going on around him, something about his demeanor made the soldiers straighten up and act properly. Thor had noticed it only gradually.

Settling into a ledge by the window, Hitsugaya proceeded to devour his meal with all the speed of a starving wolf, his focus entirely on regaining energy. Thor sat down across from him, wondering still about how quick the (pre)teenager's metabolism was. This wouldn't be the first time that the young man had to go back for thirds…correction, fourths. The duo spent an amicable hour in silence, the Asgardian prince's casual supervision drifting somewhat during the time in which Hitsugaya ate. All around him, the guards wandered in slow circles, giving their prince and his young duke friend a wide berth. They were also watching the shinigami captain, wary of his newfound power.

After eating Toushiro stood and closed his eyes. Thor shot to his feet, waiting on tenterhooks for any possible mishap – he knew what the boy was doing.

Electric blue stained the tattoo on the young captain's forehead, and without warning bionic-looking blue lines began to spiderweb over his skin. His breathing slowed and deepened, and slowly his arms went up and out, the Space Stone's blue energies seeping from his skin.

"Where are you going, Toushiro?" Thor asked, calmer now that he realized the Space Stone's power was well controlled. The shinigami shrugged.

"Might as well head to the practice arena." He said carelessly, his attention somewhat fractured by the sheer amount of concentration he was giving to the Tesseract's power. "See you there."

Hitsugaya pivoted sharply on his heel, trailing ribbons of blue power from his fingertips, and spun once before the room warped around him, stained blue by the twisting bands of light as it spiraled in on his features. Then, with a sound resembling the crack of a whip, the warping snapped back into place, and the dining hall once again looked normal. Save one difference.

Toushiro had vanished.

* * *

For those of you that have read _Flashes of Color,_ you will recognize this chapter. Therefore, I have also uploaded the second one.

You're welcome

~avtorSola


	2. Homecoming

And Thor gets his first glimpse of Soul Society! Yay!

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking"_

 ** _"Japanese"_**

At the end of three months, each of the Infinity Stones had developed coherent consciousnesses, though their mental ages varied greatly. However, to Hitsugaya's great satisfaction, he was now able to completely contain their powers at all times of the day, even while asleep. He did still have the occasional telekinetic or telepathic mishap, as the Mind Stone seemed to have taken quite a liking to him, but those were relatively harmless accidents. And while was unable to use the abilities of several of the Stones as of yet, he was able to keep their powers within himself. Only the Space and Mind Stones were simple for him to use now – he didn't have to concentrate as much on them anymore.

Therefore, he had been deemed stable enough to return to Soul Society, and from there, to head to the World of the Living to supervise the slow construction of the SRD, which Yamamoto had already placed under his sole command.

Thank the Soul King.

"Lord Hitsugaya, I wish you safe travels." Odin said, his single visible eye twinkling with mirth. Hitsugaya bowed deeply to Odin, who sat on his throne as regally as ever.

"Thank you for your hospitality, your Majesty." He replied, his tone as cool as ever. "And thank you for saving my life."

Odin raised a bold eyebrow, thinly suppressed amusement on his face.

"How many times do you feel that you must express your gratitude to me for that?" he asked. "It is your commander whom you must thank, for swallowing his pride enough to bring you here."

Hitsugaya's gaze dropped somewhat. He had been kept in near-complete isolation from any shinigami or humans during his stay, and so had not managed to thank Yamamoto for the unprecedented step. His solitude hadn't bothered him very much, but the fact that he wasn't _allowed_ to see anyone…that annoyed him. To the point that he'd had his first slip-up with his control.

In all fairness though…it _had_ been an accident. Kusajishi was a horrid little devil…(1)

"Yes sir." He sighed, stretching. Hyourinmaru shifted on his back, the reassuring pulse of winter air a familiar comfort in the over-gold Asgardian palaces. He'd changed back into his haori to return to Soul Society, but he had chosen to ditch his shihakusho in favor of the bulletproof bodysuit which Tony had made for him despite the monitoring tech. He knew Unohana would approve of the choice anyhow, especially if Tony provided her with the ability to remotely monitor his health.

With a deep breath, he turned to Thor, his expression oddly playful.

"Well, are you ready?" he asked cheekily. The thundergod frowned mock-sternly, hand on his hammer.

"Now, now, don't tease your elders, boy." Thor ribbed, watching with a grin as Toushiro's face grew dark.

"Thor!"

"I jest, Toushiro." He sighed. Age was always a sore spot for the shinigami, and no matter how often Thor tried to assure the young man that his youth wasn't a bad thing, his words never quite seemed to get through.

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and muttered something dark under his breath, a sullen frown spreading across his face. Thor wisely held his tongue. On the rare moments when Hitsugaya would act his physical age – about twelve or thirteen – pointing it out only aroused his fiery temper.

For someone with such a cold sword and cold power, he sure was hot-blooded.

Closing his eyes, Hitsugaya concentrated lightly, then reached out and grabbed Thor's upper arm. His tattoo shone blue. He was ready to go. Thor tensed.

"Hang on." Toushiro said, his tone unnervingly smug. "Teleporting feels very strange."

That was all the warning he had before blue shot from Hitsugaya's fingertips and spun around them, rotating in what appeared to be a massive ring around the pair. Now that Toushiro had mastered teleportation, his portals were more akin to that which had appeared in the sky above New York – a true wormhole.

With a wicked smirk and a shout of surprise, the wormhole sucked the pair in and closed behind them. Odin shook his head, then groaned.

"I hope the portable converter works…"

* * *

Thor went sprawling face-first onto the hard wooden floorboards the second that the wormhole spat them out into Soul Society. Behind him, Toushiro stepped elegantly down from where he'd materialized in midair, smirking broadly.

"Bit of a bumpy ride, hm?" he teased, that sarcastic grin still etched into his face. Thor peeled his face from the floor, clutching at his temples in a semblance of pain.

"…I shall never accept your form of transportation again." He groaned. "The Bifrost Bridge is much preferable."

Ignoring him, Toushiro strode powerfully over to the hard wooden desk at one side of the room, wiping a slow finger across its surface, shock surfacing on his features. He blinked in surprise. Not even the slightest speck of dust. And not a scrap of paperwork in sight either. Heaven forbid Matsumoto had actually done her work!

He searched for several more minutes, but his efforts turned nothing up. He frowned, concerned. Matsumoto only did her paperwork when he was in the Fourth Division with severe wounds, the type that kept him bedridden for several days. It was her way of taking her mind off of his condition. So if she'd been doing paperwork all this time…

"Thor…did you and Odin ever let my division or the Avengers know that I was capable of coming home this week?"

The blond thundergod paused, thinking. Then he shook his head, turning to the young shinigami with a smile.

"No." he admitted cheerfully, his earlier headache seemingly evaporated. "According to Commander Yamamoto, your lieutenant only does work when you…aren't around."

Hitsugaya twitched once, brief annoyance pricking at him, but then he sighed. At least he didn't have to deal with paperwork. But then something occurred to him, and he tapped his finger against his chin, smirking again. Maybe…maybe he should pay Matsumoto a little visit.

He motioned to Thor and held a finger to his lips, picking out his lieutenant's reiatsu on the training grounds. Silently, Thor followed the young captain over to the training grounds, and then curiously followed the young man's instruction to stand off to the side of the large courtyard. He had to admit, Toushiro seemed to be in a playful mood today, and the young man's version of playing was making fools out of others. So he went along with it.

Toushiro crept up onto the roof of one of the nearby buildings, crouching down low to hide his instantly recognizable hair, and watched his lieutenant closely as she led a full squadron of new recruits in a series of drills. For several minutes, he simply observed, taking the time to evaluate the new crop of unseated shinigami as they trained. It was just as Matsumoto asked 'any questions,' that he made his move.

One of the recruits raised her hand, her coffee-toned face drawn curiously into a frown of puzzlement.

 ** _"_** ** _Matsumoto-fukutaicho…where is the captain?"_** she asked, her voice slightly peeved. **_"I was told those who wished to work hard came to this division, because this captain expected nothing less, but there has been no sign of him in the two months I've been here. I wasn't lied to, was I?"_**

Hitsugaya felt his ire ignite, and before he knew exactly what he was doing he'd stood, ice blazing in his emerald glare, and his Spiritual Pressure rocketed skyward. As everyone in the courtyard below turned to stare at him, he crossed his arms over his chest, scowling. The sky began to turn a drizzly, unhappy grey as storm clouds scudded across the heavens.

 ** _"_** ** _I would suggest that you think before you speak the next time you open your mouth."_** He snapped icily, causing the poor girl to flinch. **_"And to answer your impudent question, I was comatose for a month and a half due to the aftereffects of Operation White-out, which you, as a member of this Division, should_** **know about.** ** _"_**

Rich coffee paled into shivering ash, and the poor young woman bowed hurriedly, tripping over apologies and pitiful excuses. Hitsugaya leapt lightly down into the courtyard, his reiatsu still flared warningly, his cold scowl a dragon's snarl on his young face.

 ** _"_** ** _Save your breath."_** He growled. **_"And be grateful for the fact that_** ** _I can understand your point of view, or I would punish you for disrespect. Are we clear?"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Y-yes sir, Hitsugaya-taicho…"_** the young woman stuttered nervously, her head ducked. For a moment, Toushiro stood glaring at her, the other recruits gaping at him in something akin to terror. Then he sighed deeply, his lips pinched into a thoughtful quirk.

 ** _"_** ** _What's your name?"_** he asked, his tone considerably gentler than it had been previously, though the cool undercurrent was still present. The offending shinigami did not unbend herself from her bow.

 ** _"_** ** _Kawasoto Mizuki, Hitsugaya-taicho."_** She said quietly. Hitsugaya cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowing. A keen glint of amusement entered the young captain's eye.

 ** _"_** ** _Kawasoto, hm?"_** he said slowly, slyly. **_"Well then, Kawasoto, I'd like for you to remember something about my division."_**

The young woman lifted her gaze to meet her captain's, biting her lip. Hitsugaya's scowl was gone, replaced by a firm look.

 ** _"_** ** _If you want to criticize me, say it to my face."_** He told her bluntly. **_"I won't punish you for disagreeing with me as long as you aren't insubordinate, and I_** **do** ** _listen to others' opinions. However, if I ever catch you slandering my name behind my back, I will not hesitate to have you whipped. Understood?"_**

Kawasoto bowed again.

 ** _"_** ** _Yes sir."_**

Hitsugaya nodded, satisfied, and then turned to his lieutenant, who had been staring at him in something like ecstasy for the past five minutes. He blinked, then buried his face in his hands as she took a step closer to him. From where he was watching across the courtyard, Thor frowned in confusion. Was Hitsugaya unhappy to see his lieutenant? He hadn't understood a word of the rapid Japanese, save that Hitsugaya was reprimanding a young woman, but this was even more puzzling.

He got his answer a second later, as Toushiro sighed and rubbed at his temples in resignation.

"Oh, go on then." He snapped, bracing himself. "Get it over with already."

Matsumoto squealed in joy and leapt on her captain, engulfing him in a near-stranglehold and squashing his face between her giant assets. Hitsugaya flailed briefly, a sharp yell of both protest and desperation escaping him as the busty strawberry-blonde woman drowned him in her cleavage.

Thor stared. So did the new recruits.

It took several minutes for the young captain to pry his second-in-command off him, and when he finally managed to extricate himself from her grasp he was gasping for air, blue tingeing his lips and skin. For half a moment, Thor expected the boy to keel over in a faint. As it was, he seemed unsteady.

"Goddamnit…nearly…suffocated…me." Toushiro wheezed. Rangiku just laughed at him, grinning widely.

"Well, at least it would be a nice way to go, ne, Taicho?" she winked at Thor, causing him to redden slightly and burst into raucous laughter as well. Toushiro threw him a disgusted look, his usually-pale cheeks bright crimson.

"Oi, stop laughing!" he snapped, embarrassed, still breathing hard. "She does that to me every single time- THOR! It's not funny!"

The thundergod couldn't find enough self-control to stop laughing, and slowly he leaned back against a wall, still chuckling. The young captain was still blushing furiously, an infuriated scowl decorating his face, and behind him Matsumoto was practically dying from laughing so hard.

"Would you both SHUT UP?!" he roared finally, lashing out with a long trail of blazing gold power. Without warning Thor felt himself floating up off the ground, and when he looked, he saw that Matsumoto was in the same predicament, though she appeared much more frightened by her sudden inability to touch the ground. Thor groaned, glaring at Hitsugaya in mock annoyance.

"Now, now, Captain, there's no need to show off." He said. "Would you kindly put us down?"

Toushiro rolled his eyes, the left one glowing a bright golden-yellow to match the tattoo on his forehead, and suddenly the gold vanished. Both Thor and Matsumoto face-planted into the dirt, and Toushiro smirked at them.

"Better?" he jibed smugly. Thor helped Matsumoto up, his pride obviously hurt. Matsumoto, on the other hand, smiled at her captain with something like pride in her diamond stare.

"I'm glad to see that you're in high enough spirits to play pranks, Taicho." She told him cheerfully. "And I'm glad you're home."

Hitsugaya's face softened then, emerald gentling into an evergreen breeze.

"Thank you, Matsumoto." He said softly. "I'm glad I'm back too."

* * *

(1) See Flashes of Color for an explanation.

Reviews help immensely!


	3. Newfound Power(s)

**A/N:** I know. Updates are slow. I apologize. I was working on a long paper for a school thing (Yes, some people voluntarily do work in summer. I know, I'm insane). But here's the third chapter!

Also, I'm currently writing an LotR fanfic. If anyone's interested... :P

* * *

Thor didn't quite know what to make of Soul Society. The buildings were oddly austere, everyone walked around in socks called tabi, including Toushiro, and _dear god why are there zero chairs?_ Even the food was weird – so much rice, and so little beef. How did Hitsugaya _live_ here?

The only positive – well, really a sort of neutral – was that many of the captains and lieutenants were quite interested in sparring with the Asgardian. It pleased Thor greatly to have opponents which he did not have to hold back on. However, he did not particularly agree with the unspoken agreement between the captains and lieutenants that lethal force was allowed in practice spars – even expected.

He gripped his hammer a little more tightly, his knuckles going white as he watched Toushiro spar with a small woman – a captain also – who had introduced herself as Soifon. The two were trading blows at speeds which made Thor ill just watching them, and though neither had gone into what Matsumoto had called 'shee-kye' each had several bloody furrows along their faces, arms, and legs. The billowy, torn robes of Hitsugaya's shihakusho swirled around him as he swept himself above Soifon's blade, keen glance reading through the Onmitsukido commander's movements. So far they had barely been able to graze each other, much to Thor's relief, but as he watched, Soifon cradled her blade in her hands.

"Sting all enemies to death! Suzumebachi!" she called, and with a sharp buzz her sword transformed into what seemed to be a single claw set on her middle finger. Hitsugaya immediately leapt away, green gaze narrowing. However, he seemed to be a bit too slow. Soifon's claw scratched his face. As the young man's feet touched ground, a butterfly-like tattoo bloomed over his cheek, spiking around the tattoo already marking his brow.

Soifon smirked.

"I have a target now, Hitsugaya-taicho." She said slyly. "If I hit you there again, you'll die."

Hitsugaya scowled deeply, but without a word he sheathed his blade, causing several of the other captain's eyebrows to skyrocket. Then the scowl morphed into a smirk, a hint of sass present on the pre-teenager's face.

"Well…" he mused. "I suppose you'll have to be able to attack me first."

His tattoo and left eye abruptly turned bright gold, and Soifon started in surprise as she floated gently into the air. For a moment she struggled helplessly, but with nothing to push off of she could not move herself forward. She was stuck.

Toushiro sighed a bored sigh, looking entirely too pleased with himself, and he raised a hand, a soft gold light illuminating his fingertips.

"You may want to wrap your hands around your head." He said pleasantly. "This may smart a bit."

And with that, he swept his hand to the side, hard and fast, and Soifon was hurled across the training field and into the sekkiseki wall which had been erected about the captains' training grounds. She crashed into the wall with a loud cracking sound, and stayed upright for a few brief seconds, shivering, before sliding to the ground. She coughed red, an approving glint hidden in her slate grey eyes

"Wh-what…was that?" she choked out, Unohana already crossing to her side and casting a powerful healing kido on her chest. Hitsugaya shrugged carelessly.

"Telekinesis." He answered contemplatively, his voice unusually thoughtful. "I'm fairly decent at it now, that and telepathy."

The captain standing next to Thor, a tall man with long, dark hair and a narrow face, stiffened in surprise. He stepped forward.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, to what extent do your telepathic abilities reach?"

The younger of the two captains shot a sly, mismatched glance in the elder's direction. Thor sighed.

"Enough to dislike the thoughts running through your mind right now, Kuchiki-taicho." He said dryly. "And asking Kurotsuchi to seal my telepathic power won't work, even surgically. The six Infinity Stones can create an impenetrable shield for me if they think I'm being threatened. That's their choice though – not mine."

Kuchiki's face went taut, his grey stare burning with anger.

"Get out of my mind _now_ , Hitsugaya." He spat. Toushiro scowled deeply, a cold glare crossing his young face. The tattoo on his forehead suddenly – and frighteningly – glowed purple. Thor went completely rigid, reaching for his hammer.

"I can't." he snapped. "When the Mind Stone is active, you may as well be throwing your thoughts at me!"

A wisp of dangerous violet light drifted off the corner of his jawline, and slowly Thor sidled in front of the other shinigami captain, his eyes wide, his stance low.

"Easy, Captain." He said soothingly, his tone the quiet, calm one used on injured animals. "Deep breath, if you would."

Hitsugaya glared at him for a moment, but slowly the adrenaline haze which the Power Stone cast over his conscious thought began to clear, and he relaxed. The tight muscles in his neck and corded shoulders loosened, and surprising the other captains who knew him to be stubbornly independent, took a deep breath as Thor had told him to. The flickers of radioactive violet dancing along Toushiro's skin began to fade, as did the dangerous hue of his left eye and the tattoo above it. Thor let out a great sigh of relief.

"Toushiro, that was very close." He cautioned once the Power Stone's influence had entirely vanished. Hitsugaya groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, knowing the other captains were looking at him curiously.

"I know." He said, his tone exhausted and somewhat resigned. "Purple is twitchy – he didn't like what Kuchiki-taicho had to say, so he activated as a precautionary measure. None of them seem to think that I can protect myself."

Thor chuckled a bit, smiling.

"What is the Power Stone's age about now?" he asked, smirking. Toushiro considered.

"Maybe…four?" he mused. "He can speak coherently, but he's still very young. He's behind Red, Yellow, and Blue in terms of development. Green and Orange are behind him though; Green can barely speak in baby-talk, and Orange just says her color over and over."

The confused expressions which Kuchiki and the others were giving him were priceless, Hitsugaya thought, amusement touching the corners of his mouth. Thor nodded.

"Blue is the furthest along, is she not?"

Hitsugaya nodded again, quite wearily.

"Oh my god, I feel like I'm talking to a wall with her." He complained. "She insists that she's sixteen. And she point-blank _refuses_ to let me call her Blue anymore. Apparently she's now 'Tessa' for some reason. Short for Tesseract, I'd assume."

Suddenly, apparently tired of remaining in the dark over the duration of the odd conversation, Ukitake piped up, his doe-like brown eyes filled to bursting with unbridled curiosity.

"Hitsugaya-kun, what on earth are you and Thor-san talking about?" he asked.

Toushiro blinked and took a pace back as his colleagues started to cluster closer to him, eager on hearing the answer. He sweatdropped, looking to Thor for help, but the demigod was just silently laughing at his younger friend's predicament. Hitsugaya sighed.

"Well…do you all know about the Infinity Stones?" he asked tentatively, relieved when he saw a lot of nods. "Then do you also know about the transformation I underwent?"

More nods.

"That makes things much easier, since you all know the background." Toushiro said, thankful that he wasn't being forced to explain _that_ process again, like he had with Matsumoto (who, despite being present during the initiation of her captain's coma, had not paid attention whatsoever). "Thor and I were talking about the Infinity Stones, in a slightly indirect manner. Long story short, prolonged contact with my consciousness has given the Infinity Stones their own sentient minds, all six of which live in my head with my Hyourinmaru. And each consciousness develops like a child does, moving in stages. Thus, when I'm giving each an 'age' I'm really indicating their level of both maturity and thought processes."

Kurotsuchi started in surprise and with a widening leer on his face crept closer, reaching for his younger colleague with one grotesque hand.

"How interesting…" he lisped, his eerie face contorted in pleasure. "Perhaps I need to run some tests…"

Hitsugaya snarled, small hand reaching back for his Zanpakutou, his stance tense. His reiatsu, icy and such a pale blue that it resembled white, curled around him in draconic loops, threatening and cold before the scientist.

"Touch me." Toushiro growled, and Thor knew that if the boy had fangs or claws they would be bared. "Go on, Kurotsuchi. Touch me, and watch how quickly you'll lose your head."

"That is enough, Hitsugaya-taicho, Kurotsuchi-taicho." Ukitake suddenly intervened, his tone scolding. "Kurotsuchi, you are not going to run any tests on Hitsugaya-taicho without his explicit, conscious, _willing_ permission given under circumstances free of coercion, manipulation, or otherwise foul play. And in the event that you have forgotten, Hitsugaya-taicho asked for and received a restraining order forbidding you from approaching him or his men without the supervision of a lieutenant or above, not including Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho or yourself."

Then Ukitake rounded on the younger Shiro-chan, his frown disappointed.

"And Hitsugaya-kun, if you're going to kill Kurotsuchi, kindly invite the rest of us to participate." He reprimanded with a slight twinkle in his eye. "You are not the only one who dislikes his constant advances."

As Kurotsuchi began squawking affrontedly in his arrogant, overbearing manner, Ukitake reached out, clasped Hitsugaya's shoulder, and smiled, drawing his younger colleague away from the group somewhat.

"If you and your Asgardian comrade would join Kyoraku, Unohana-san, Yamamoto-sensei, and I for dinner this evening, it would be greatly appreciated." He invited politely. "We'll probably be talking about the SRD's development, so we'll bring you up to speed on that and then leave you in charge."

Toushiro nodded pleasantly, conveniently ignoring Kurotsuchi's maddened squalling in the background, though he did smirk viciously when the now-healed Soifon used kido to bind the insane scientist's lips together. The underlying meaning behind Ukitake's words was crystalline clear, and Hitsugaya was somewhat dumbfounded by the implications.

"I believe that would be quite doable." He said with some sly cheer. "I came back to a paperwork-free office for once, so I have a little free time."

Ukitake's instant explosion of happiness was palpable in the air and Hitsugaya instantly sweatdropped just a bit. How was it that the captains older than him always managed to act younger?

"Wonderful!" the sickly captain cheered. "Unohana is hosting, so come over at eight-thirty, in casual clothes. A yukata would be fine – that's what I'll probably show up in."

Hitsugaya nodded, understanding, and gave the senior captain a respectful bow.

"Thank you, Ukitake-taicho." He said gratefully, understanding that the invitation was more than just an invitation to a casual dinner. It meant that with his instatement at the helm of the SRD, he would be moving up on the scale of political clout in Seireitei. He was already in charge of internal investigation – Soul Society's 'police force' so to speak – and so held a relatively powerful position in Soul Society. Of course, Yamamoto had the most influence, and Unohana fell just behind him, with Ukitake and Kyoraku tied for third, mostly because they had a limited range of influence over Yamamoto. Kuchiki was a solid fourth due to his noble status, with Muguruma, Hirako and Soifon a raging battle over the fifth's spot, and that left him in sixth (actually ninth…) for political influence. But when he was installed as the sole power in charge of the alliance with Earth and Asgard, his political clout would be on par with Unohana's, maybe even approaching Yamamoto's.

In simpler terms, Yamamoto, Unohana, Kyoraku, and Ukitake were drawing him into their political alliance due to his impending position in power. It was a heady thought – even Kuchiki-taicho lacked such an invitation. However, the political security it brought was highly envied, which was one reason Komamura was so loyal to Yamamoto. He had been hoping for inclusion in the elite group for some time.

Suddenly, Hitsugaya became slightly suspicious, and with narrowed eyes he sidled a look at Ukitake. His political stance was considered one of the most radical among the mostly-conservative captains. He had long advocated for the eradication of the priority status which nobles received in Seireitei and the Shinou Academy, as well as the implementation of a popular vote which could repeal any unsupported laws which the Central 46 should make. Of course, while such views may be popular with the folk from Rukongai, they were seen as quite threatening to many of those from noble houses.

"However, and forgive me for questioning your kindness, Ukitake-san, but are you sure you want me there?" he asked quietly. "You know that I am not the most moderate of people. I would not want to disrupt your dynamic."

Ukitake's shrewd glance was unreadable.

"Yamamoto-sensei has been complaining about a lack of excitement recently whenever we gather." He replied calmly. "Your fierce personality may be exactly the catalyst we need."

Toushiro raised a slender, snowy white eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless. If they wanted to incorporate him, he would not question it. But he would not yield ground on the issues which he advocated for.

"Then it would be rude of me to refuse to come." He said smoothly. "I will see you this evening, and hopefully I will convince Thor to come as well – he seems rather confused by our food."

Ukitake burst into laughter, and, as if realizing that the pair of Shiro-chans was talking about him behind his back, Thor turned around, sneezing abruptly, and ran to catch up with them.

Or perhaps he was simply tired of watching Soifon and Zaraki yell at Kurotsuchi.

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Reviews make me happy... :D (please leave one?)

~avtorSola


	4. Dinner Discussion

**A/N: Enjoy! Thanks to all those who have reviewed so far!**

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking"_

 ** _"Japanese"_**

Dinner that evening was very pleasant – for the most part. Thor was a little puzzled by the etiquette, and seemed slightly uncomfortable without his hammer or armor, which Toushiro had coaxed him into leaving in the Tenth Division, but he was coping splendidly. He quite enjoyed the simplicity of the yukata which everyone wore, complimenting Unohana rather graciously on the soft blue flowers embroidered on hers. The healing-captain had blushed prettily, smiling at the Asgardian, and quickly entered into a light-hearted discussion about the subtleties of ikebana – one of her hobbies.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto and Ukitake took turns discussing the SRD with their younger colleague. Not much had been done in the way of organization besides the setup of ranking positions, and the incorporation of two humans into the human-inclusive squads. Shinigami had yet to be assigned to ranking positions, because those decisions were Hitsugaya's alone.

"Matsumoto will be my second in the SRD, as expected, but I think I'm also going to put her in charge of training the humans to use their reiryoku." He said decisively. "She's excellent at explaining and genuinely likes teaching, and it would keep her doing useful work without involving too many papers to sign. I'll also try and recruit Kurosaki once he turns eighteen as a split agent between SHIELD and the SRD…He'd probably appreciate a steady job immediately upon graduating college or high school, whichever he chooses to go through."

Kyoraku nodded, agreeing easily.

"He'd be a ranking officer, I'd assume?" he asked curiously. Toushiro turned his gaze to his plate, musing.

"Directly under me, yes." He said, surprising the others. "He has an unnatural knack for leadership, and as soon as I cure him of his belligerence he'll make an incredible officer. He'll need a steadying partner, logical but not necessarily powerful, to team up with him. I'm thinking one of my Eighth Seats, Nagasawa Kenta. His strength is in strategy, so he'll plan, Kurosaki will execute."

Ukitake sipped at the steaming cup of green tea set before him.

"Will the SRD be in charge of global security?" he asked.

Hitsugaya nodded slowly.

"The SRD's secondary function is to provide backup for the Avengers should our help be needed. I am currently listed as a part-time member of the Avengers unit, however, so I will be the most involved out of any in the SRD. Otherwise, the main function of the SRD will be in monitoring organizations which have the capacity to cause mass genocide. We will not get involved with any organizations which seek to overthrow governments and the like." He replied softly. "Our department does not need to be particularly large, but we do need to be efficient, especially now that the world has been exposed to the Tesseract's power."

Kyoraku raised an eyebrow, setting aside his saucer of sake.

"Why?" he asked. "What does the Tesseract's power have to do with the SRD – besides the fact that it's sealed into your skin?"

Toushiro glanced up at the older man, the jade of his glare bright against the rich turquoise background of his yukata.

"Reiatsu is abnormally similar to the powers of the Infinity Stones." He said grimly. "I was thinking about it while on the Helicarrier, before the Chitauri invaded. How could the humans on board see me? I was in shinigami form the entire time. Thus I came to the conclusion that extensive exposure to the Tesseract raises spiritual awareness."

Yamamoto opened one eye from his seat at the head of the table, and suddenly Unohana paused in her conversation to look at him, her eyes wide.

"But all of New York was…" she gasped. Hitsugaya nodded solemnly.

"That's exactly my point." He said. "We now have a much higher concentration of people running about who may be able to see Hollows, shinigami, and even Arrancar. And given Kurosaki's effect on his friends, this _could_ spread. Eventually the SRD will have to come forward as the agency in charge of keeping 'alien attacks' to a minimum, if only to silence the humans' questions."

Yamamoto and the others went silent. Ukitake stared helplessly.

"We're going to be exposed." He said, stunned. "Tens of thousands of years, billions of souls, and we're going to be exposed now, all because of that tiny little stone in your chest."

Hitsugaya winced a bit, but he kept going nonetheless.

"I'll do my best to keep it under control." He said. "Hence the SRD. We'll hire the people with abnormal reiatsu and train them to help contain Hollows. Given that we'll be part spy organization, everything will be confidential. If we insist that only our trained professionals can kill the 'aliens' then we might be able to fool the rest of the Earth into thinking that as well."

Ukitake leaned back in his chair, coughing slightly, and glanced up at Thor.

"Will Asgard back up our cover story?" he asked cautiously. Thor considered for a moment, then nodded as slowly as he could, the lines along the edges of his jaw crumpling in puzzlement.

"Why do you not tell the humans the truth?" he asked. "Why not give them hope? Give them reassurance that death is not the end?"

For a moment, all was quiet, and then Toushiro stood from his place, his jade stare a piercing, furious rage.

"You forget yourself, Thor." He snarled, his voice low. "We are dead. The dead have no true place among the living. You must think! If humankind knew that death could lead to something more, they would not cherish their lives on Earth so. There would be no grief at funerals, no joy at new births, no desperate valor or courage in times of need, because there would be no point! When death means nothing, life means nothing as well!"

Thor blinked in shock. Hitsugaya's expression, passionate and indignant, mirrored the expression of his fellow shinigami.

"Death _is_ the end, Thor." He said softly. "Why do you think we protect the living from their souls of their fallen brethren? Why do you think _I_ , as hateful and dark as I was, consented to shield the living from tormented souls? It is because I know that life on the surface of that blue little planet is a gift – one...one I was robbed of too early."

He fell silent there for a moment, and Ukitake sighed, pulling the younger Shiro-chan back into his seat with a gentle tug.

"Thor-san, you must understand." He said softly. "Life is not like death. Should humans discover our existence…what beauty would there **be** in life?"

Thor sat up a little bit straighter, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"You keep yourselves secret so that humankind clings to life? Simply for the beauty of it?" he asked in disbelief. As one, each of the shinigami there nodded, their faces solemn.

"We keep ourselves secret so that life is all the sweeter." Hitsugaya said softly. "Even when one's existence is a bitter, miserable struggle, humans have an inherent instinct to _live_. A soul without a body is like a puzzle missing a piece, and most among the living instinctively understand that…My life, in particular…It was not a pleasant ordeal, as you are aware."

Thor went rigid, eyes widening as he remembered the tale Hitsugaya had told concerning his past. Toushiro's gaze dropped.

"If I had known that death would have merely sent me to an afterlife, I may well have killed myself to escape." He admitted quietly. "There are some who would do the same, and there are some who commit that same action without the knowledge of an afterlife. However, because I chose to continue living, my future played out in a pattern which led me to this point here today. Had I chosen to kill myself, this future would have been much different. I likely would have become a Hollow instead of a shinigami…"

He raised a hand to clutch at the turquoise fabric of his yukata, his gaze full of sorrow.

"Not all in the afterlife is good, Thor." The young shinigami said quietly. "Those who are evil during their human lives are sent to Hell once they die. There they suffer until their crimes are sufficiently atoned for, and then they are reincarnated into the World of the Living without any of their memories. And if a pure spirit becomes a Hollow after death, they are sent to a vicious land known as Hueco Mundo, where they must kill or be killed. And one rarely remembers their life on Earth when they reach Soul Society."

The Asgardian's eyes rounded in understanding. Toushiro's face was saddened, the slow sparking white of the tattoo on his forehead a star of unshed tears.

"I believe I understand now, Toushiro." Thor said softly. "It is not that you will not give the humans hope, it is that you refuse to impart painful knowledge upon them. You are sparing them."

Hitsugaya nodded, as did his companions, and Thor sighed deeply, apologetically.

"Forgive me." He asked quietly. "I knew not of what I spoke."

Ukitake shrugged genially, a faded smile on his face.

"It's alright, Thor-san." The sickly captain reassured. "And perhaps Hitsugaya-kun was too vehement in his defense of our secrecy. He has a habit of operating in extremes."

Toushiro rolled his eyes, muttering sullenly under his breath, his brow dark, but everyone present noted with some amusement that he did not verbally object to the characterization. Perhaps he had begun to notice it as well.

After that minor blemish on the otherwise peaceful dinner, the five drank steaming cups of tea and continued to discuss the SRD – as well as the plan to insert Hitsugaya into the ranks of SHIELD without arousing suspicion. So far, the ideas which they had were convoluted at best and unintelligible at worst, ranging from the idea that he was a lost alien wandering on a strange planet to a quickly-nixed idea that he could pose as one of Thor's personal servants.

Hitsugaya's position was complicated. He needed to be given an identity which would allow his familiarity with the Avengers, explain away his biracial appearance, and give him the mobility which he needed to operate functionally within SHIELD. It was exceedingly difficult.

And that was when Ukitake had his brainwave.

"Hitsugaya-kun, we could place you with Rogers-san." He said slowly. "It would knock out two birds with one stone – you need ease of transportation into SHIELD, and Rogers-san would be able to give the appearance of a legal guardian to the human governments. He could solve both of those problems."

Hitsugaya frowned, his nose crinkling in distaste at the phrase 'legal guardian'.

"You know how I feel about playing the part of a child." He reminded Ukitake sourly. "Children can hardly understand the way I think."

Ukitake sighed, his tone weary.

"Captain Rogers also has access to the Bifrost Bridge, Hitsugaya-kun." He replied firmly. "If your control lapses, he will be able to take you to Asgard so that any possible spillover may be contained. In any case, however, you will need someone to pose as your guardian while in the World of the Living, and your lieutenant is not suited to such a task given her propensity to drink."

Toushiro's lips pursed in thought, his eyes narrowing. He couldn't argue with that statement, and though while it was unlikely that he would lose control of the Infinity Stones now, he did have to admit that Steve would be the least likely to ignite his temper – mostly because the two were actually friends, with a mutual understanding of how hellish war was.

"I suppose that's a good start, then." He admitted grudgingly, trying not to make it seem like he was pleased by the recent turn of events. "But I cannot appear from nowhere. I should emerge from someplace suitably disreputable enough to warrant my lack of identification.

Ukitake nodded, then gave his younger colleague a quick once-over, eyes widening as he contemplated. He glanced up at Kyoraku, his stare anxious.

"He can't pass as either full Japanese or full Caucasian, but his accent…" Ukitake worried quickly. Yamamoto frowned as well, noticing the discrepancy. Hitsugaya raised a slender eyebrow.

"You are talking about my difficulty pronouncing the English "Wu,' yes?" Hitsugaya said, his tone souring again. "You do realize that it is very slight, and only emerges when I am flustered, correct? Even if I am going to be slowly integrated into SHIELD, I will have gained time to practice my pronunciation beforehand, or so I assume…"

Suddenly Hitsugaya's eyes glazed over, his tattoo and left eye glowing yellow for a fraction of a second. He sat stock still, staring off into space, his gaze blank. For a moment, Ukitake and the other shinigami said nothing, slightly surprised but Hitsugaya's sudden silence, but Thor leaned forward in anticipation, recognizing that the preteen captain had put a few pieces together. It took only another few minutes for the young captain to begin speaking again.

"Say…" he mused softly, his gaze winking with amusement. "Didn't Steve have a brother? Who married a Japanese girl he met in Hokkaido after World War Two? With white hair?"

Thor looked confused for a moment, but soon the dawning realization broke over his face, and he understood what Hitsugaya was saying.

"Can you do that?" he asked softly. "It's risky to do such a thing."

Toushiro smirked knowingly, his jade gaze glimmering.

"I could get Yellow to help me coax Orange into behaving, and we can manufacture a gigai with features that could lead to mine." He said. "Besides, all I need to do is alter a few documents and change a few names, as well as to get myself into a photo or two. The Kido Corp can alter a few memories. Then we've got my family history. After that I can slip into a rundown sort of orphanage somewhere in Japan and start leaking ice. Once SHIELD gets wind of it, they can trace the family tree and find out that I'm Steve's 'great-grandnephew' or something like that. With those sorts of connections coupled with odd powers, I'll probably be a shoo-in."

Ukitake raised an eyebrow.

"I don't follow you, Hitsugaya-kun." He said in confusion, explaining his and his colleagues' expressions. Toushiro smiled, tapping the side of his head knowingly, and leaned a little more over the table.

"The Orange Infinity Stone is the Time Stone." He said softly. "I can take myself back in time and create a genuine history for the "brother-with-white-hair" that Steve never had. Then anyone who looks will only find the truth."

Kyoraku scowled slightly, his thinking face crossing over his stubble and contorting it.

"It's not a bad idea." He said thoughtfully. "But the idea of you using your new powers so soon worries me, and I don't think that leaking your reiatsu to attract SHIELD's attention is wise."

Hitsugaya frowned, cupping his chin in his hand.

"Well, I think it's the best idea we have right now." He said, frowning. "I should head to the human world in advance for a crash course in human customs and technology, and we can discuss the plan with Fury while I'm there. He might have a way of making the documents we need without the use of the Time Stone, even more so if Steve's fictional brother became a member of SHIELD after WWII. But I'll somehow have to get on SHIELD's radar."

Kyoraku thought for a moment, his eyebrows running together on his forehead.

"The easiest way to make yourself known to SHIELD would be to get on their radar in a negative way." He frowned, still thinking. "And for you, that may actually work. You still appear very young, despite your mental ability, and SHIELD seems to me to be an organization who wishes to recruit rather that eliminate. Some of their choices in personnel I don't fully agree with."

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed, but he considered for a moment, tongue in between his teeth.

"…perhaps…" he said slowly. "My combat skills will only make them wary, however. I appear too young to be so skilled. Perhaps Fury will come up with something…"

Kyoraku raised an eyebrow, his face pulled into something like a smirk.

"Hitsugaya-kun, you do realize that you _will_ have to imitate a child's personality, correct?" he asked smoothly. "This particular assignment will  only succeed if you are able to act the part of a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy. That may mean showing fear during situations you would ordinarily laugh at."

Toushiro blinked once, then grimaced, face screwing up in disgust. Thor had to hold in a laugh at the sight, knowing altogether too well how the young captain dealt with anything pertaining to his physical age.

"I may need Natasha-san to beat that one into me." He admitted grudgingly. "I have long forgotten how to act utterly irresponsible."

As one, all the adults present rolled their eyes, exchanging knowing looks with each other. It wasn't that Hitsugaya had forgotten how to be a child, for surely he had, but along with that, the memory of what childhood was had also slipped from him in the past century. He had grown quite derisive towards the idea of youth – which would pose a problem for him, should he ever discover that he was being discreetly kept under close supervision. He would inevitably see it as an insult to his experiences in battle, an interpretation of his outward appearance as the extent of his skill, and the recoil would be devastating.

Hitsugaya would feel betrayed, and when he felt so the only response ever garnered from him was white-hot anger. It would be enough to destroy any inkling of trust which he had felt toward his shinigami, Asgardian and human colleagues.

Kyoraku scratched absently at his stubble, allowing none of those thoughts to show on his face as to keep the youngest captain ignorant. They must find a way to convince him of his perilous condition and coax him into allowing a guard to be set upon him. The alternative – incarceration – was too harsh a punishment for a happening which was not his fault.

 _"_ _Oh, if only you could see the danger around you now, Hitsugaya-kun."_ Kyoraku thought tensely, though his face was smiling at the comment which Thor had just made. _"With the Kismet, the White Stone running through your veins, you are the centerpiece of this vast universal play. Even now, there are those unseen foes among your allies who plot against you. Should any evil take you…we are lost."_

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Please tell me what you think! Also, if anyone wants to send me prompt ideas for _Flashes of Color_ , I would love them to pieces!:D


	5. Improptu Warning

**A/N:** I know, short chapter. I haven't made a ton of progress so...

* * *

After dinner, Toushiro and Thor made their way back to the Tenth Division, lightly discussing the still-tentative plan to slip the young captain in SHIELD's inner workings. It had been decided that Toushiro would leave for the SRD's new and top-secret facility within the week, just as soon as all the Avengers were en route, and while there he would have lessons from Natasha and Clint on modern Japanese customs and modern conveniences (like the juicebox). Much of it he was familiar with, but review never hurt.

The real challenges would come from Tony. The billionaire had quite readily agreed to help teach the young captain about the finer points of technology, but Toushiro wasn't entirely sure he would understand the complexities of a touch-screen or heaven forbid he attempted to understand the Internet. He'd known many a shinigami frustrated to the point of physical violence over the concept of a _video chat_.

Thank the Soul King he had experience with human tech.

Without warning, Thor broke the professional atmosphere, his tone concerned in the oddest of ways.

"Your Grace." he said quietly, seeming to decide upon something in that moment, and Hitsugaya stiffened as if struck by lightning, whirling round with unnatural speed to stare at the Asgardian in open-mouthed shock. Never had Thor ever addressed him by his Asgardian title – the highest rank that one of non-royal blood could possess.

"I wish to tell you something."

Hitsugaya swallowed uncomfortably, caught off guard by the address. He was shaken visibly for one of the few times in his life, and it seemed to have taken its toll.

"I…" he trailed off, uncertain. "Do not…address me as such, Thor. Go ahead and speak."

The Asgardian thundergod shook his head solemnly, but kept his voice low, so as to not be overheard.

"Neither my father nor your commander wishes me to tell you this, but I think you have the right to know at least this much." He murmured, drawing closer to the young shinigami and steering him gently towards the office where Toushiro did most of his daily work. He slid the door closed behind them.

Yukata gleaming the color of ice gems, Toushiro stood in the middle of the room, now on high alert, all of his senses tingling. Thor paced round the couch, his face troubled. For many long minutes it seemed that he could not voice his thoughts, but finally the dam cracked.

"Toushiro, you are in grave danger." He said quietly, drawing alarm from the younger of the two. Frost puffed on Hitsugaya's lips.

"Explain." Hitsugaya breathed, a dragon's wrath beginning to stir inside him at the terse warning. Thor did not meet the ice captain's gaze.

"The Infinity Stones are a source of power immeasurable, Toushiro." The Asgardian prince hissed. "And humankind is not the only race which searches for power."

Thor had his attention now, a predatory scowl beginning to etch lines of worry over Hitsugaya's young face. The implication of such a statement was utterly clear – he would be hunted.

"I can handle other aliens." The rebuke was short and snappish, belying Toushiro's ire at what seemed to be a redundant warning. The air took on a slight chill.

"The Earth cannot." Thor said quietly. "Once your existence is discovered by the crueler of the species dotting the universe, your quaint blue planet _will_ be invaded. And make no mistake; the eviler of those in this universe will have no trouble destroying the Earth utterly if only to draw you and your kin out."

Toushiro felt winded suddenly, the breath struck from his lungs. He had not thought that the Earth might be attacked in any other race's quest to steal the Infinity Stones, but now that Thor spoke of such a thing he could see that it was inevitable.

He hadn't realized that he'd stopped breathing until he felt Thor's hand rubbing gentle circles on his back, an attempt to keep him calm. The whispers, anxious yet unhurried, of the six Infinity Stones in his head drove his thoughts round in endless loops for several long moments until finally, he managed to speak.

"Shit. I didn't think about that." Toushiro swore aloud, his tone quivering slightly. Thor seemed to agree with the sentiment. "What should we do? What should _I_ do?"

The Asgardian prince chuckled grimly.

"It gets worse, Toushiro." He divulged willingly. "My father recently received word from Heimdall that an ancient enemy was wakened when the Tesseract was bonded to your soul and blood, though as of yet we believe him to be unaware of your existence. I will not say this enemy's name, and I do not know his intentions toward your people, only that it involves death and destruction. But I do know this; that many thousands of years ago he took my father's eye and nearly took your commander's life doing battle for the power you now hold."

Toushiro blanched white, jade glare widening into helpless disbelief. An alien nearly killed the Soutaicho? How was such a thing possible? Why were the Infinity Stones so desperately sought-after?

Suddenly he paled even further, realizing. If this mysterious enemy had nearly slain his superior…then he stood no chance.

Thor merely looked at the young captain, apparently understanding what was going through the preteenager's head. The Asgardian's glare grew hard.

"Toushiro, if this being or _any_ of his subordinates capture you, the universe is lost." Thor said urgently. "You are the only sentient individual now capable of controlling the Infinity Stones."

Hitsugaya stared up at the broad-shouldered Asgardian.

"You mean for me to run." He murmured, incredulous. "You mean for me to turn tail and flee like a frightened child if Asgard, Soul Society, and Earth fall."

Anger began to burn along the lines of his face, a cold rage glaring from his eyes.

"You mean for me to show a coward's colors instead of facing down death."

The accusation was true, so Thor merely shrugged, his expression calm in the face of Hitsugaya's rapidly rising fury.

"I mean for you to not begin the apocalypse, Your Grace." he said sternly, returning to that unexpected formality which threw Toushiro so off guard, and suddenly the ice captain felt young and naïve under such a look. "The power of any one of the six Stones can destroy planets – together, their power…may well evaporate a galaxy."

The office remained silent for a short while, Toushiro trying to digest the news. Finally, he swallowed, a desperate hope gleaming from the tattoo on his brow.

"I will fight with you." He stated, making Thor's brows rise in protest, but then he continued. "But…if the time ever comes…I will do whatever is necessary to prevent myself from being taken captive."

Thor considered for a moment, regarding the anguished glint in the preteen's eyes with a hint of sorrow. He knew better than anyone that it was an awful thing for a warrior to be stripped of their pride without rhyme or reason. Such a promise would be the greatest concession he would convince the boy to make while on his own. When the others joined in, however, perhaps he would bend just a little more, and then just a little more, until he had bent to their full wishes without breaking.

So with this in mind, he heaved a great sigh, affecting an unhappy stare.

"I suppose that is the most which I can convince you to concede to at the moment." He said, and Toushiro nodded, the desperation leaving his youthful face and relief replacing it. He sighed again.

"Then you must be careful." He warned lowly. "Your enemies have many whom they have swayed against you, including humans and perhaps even your shinigami peers. You must exercise caution."

Hitsugaya nodded, walking towards the door with something more akin to determination on his face now.

"I will. Thank you for warning me." He replied, a hint of gratitude in the ebb and flow of his tone. Thor said nothing, only followed the young captain out from the office and back into the depths of the Tenth Division, silently pleading. If anyone would convince Hitsugaya to permit the restriction of his movements and the inconvenience of bodyguards, it would be either someone whom Thor had no knowledge of, or Steve.

So Steve was their only second chance. At least he wouldn't see the need to coax the younger/older captain. He'd simply lay out the facts, and if Hitsugaya didn't come to the right conclusion, then Yamamoto would lock him in prison.

And that wasn't an option at all.

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Reviews are appreciated! Thank you for reading! (I know it was a filler. Please don't kill me. T.T)


	6. Confrontation and Consolation

**A/N:** This one's a big one - so enjoy! I may not post for a while.

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking"_

 ** _"Japanese"_**

Four days later, SHIELD sent word that the Avengers were all en route to the SRD's new facility, and without even a moment's hesitation, Toushiro, Thor, Matsumoto, and several dozens of handpicked shinigami from the Tenth Division stepped through the Senkaimon.

Kurotsuchi had given each of the shinigami a gigai, specifically designed to function to the full capacity of their shinigami powers, and each was given a Mod Soul designed to fit exactly with their personality. Hitsugaya's gigai, however, was by far the most advanced of any of the gigai there. His completely muffled his reiatsu and permitted him to silently summon his Zanpakutou into his hand while still in his gigai. The sword would become visible while in his hands, eliminating the need for humans to ask questions, but his Shikai and Bankai wouldn't be usable.

It also had the added bonus of concealing the tattoos on his forehead and collarbones when he was not actively using the powers of any of the Infinity Stones.

Hitsugaya stepped out of the Senkaimon lightly, his expression as cool as ever, and blinked once as he entered a large, rectangular room with a white-tiled floor. His haori billowed about his calves and ankles, swirling in the air-conditioned atmosphere of the large space, and Toushiro understood easily.

 _"_ _A training room."_ He thought, approving the space with a quick sweep of his eyes. Large, clean, well-equipped – all the necessities for a shinigami well in place. Then as Thor and his subordinates clambered out of the Senkaimon behind him, he turned to face Fury and Hill, both of whom stood waiting for his arrival.

"Commander Hitsugaya." Hill greeted, and Toushiro raised an eyebrow at the deference. _Commander?_ Even Matsumoto looked startled by the address. If that was his title, the Japanese translation, while imperfect, would be _soutaicho_. If he was ever in a captain's meeting, and his SRD subordinates needed to send for him…at least Soifon would be offended by that. Heaven knows that Kyoraku and Ukitake would laugh, but the others…

"Is that my captain's rank here?" Matsumoto asked curiously, stepping aside to allow Thor to come up next to her. Hill nodded, her stoic poise a blessing. Toushiro eyed her, casting a grudging look Fury's way. Hill possessed a decent amount of reiryoku for a human. What he would have given to have a fighter like her under his command. But alas, Fury wouldn't give her up.

"Well, that will be awkward." Toushiro heard himself say wryly, though his tone conveyed amusement. "Imagine the confusion that will arise whenever I am needed as the Commander of the SRD while in Seireitei…"

Behind him, the squadrons of Division Ten members sniggered appreciatively, remaining appropriately calm despite their leader's dry wit. Thor, however, burst into booming laughter, a stark contrast to the more disciplined amusement of the shinigami.

"Form up." Toushiro commanded softly, drawing instant silence from his men as they slid into position behind him. Fury raised an eyebrow, looking impressed by the degree of control which Hitsugaya had over his subordinates. Then the young captain glanced up at the tall SHIELD director.

"Care to show us around?" he asked lightly. "Barracks first, if you don't mind. My soldiers would appreciate knowing where their personal spaces are."

Fury almost smiled, the peculiar knowing glint in his eye catching fire under Toushiro's cold glance.

"Of course." He said graciously. "Agent Hill, if you would show Commander Hitsugaya's men to their rooms. I have something to discuss with him first. Thor, if you would join the conversation as well."

Toushiro motioned discreetly for Matsumoto to follow Hill and watched dispassionately as his bubbly lieutenant bounced away, her cropped blonde hair swirling around her head as she led the squadrons after the SHIELD agent. For several moments there was silence in the vast training room, and the three stood watching each other for several long minutes. Then Fury gestured at the door which Hill had just left through.

"If you would follow me, Commander, I can show you to your new office." He offered, though the underlying meaning was quite plain to both Thor and Toushiro. They nodded, striding out of the training room and down a long concrete and tile hallway lit with efficient fluorescent lighting. Glass panels dotted the walls at intervals, revealing smaller training rooms at first, and then showing laboratories and computer havens as the trio rounded a corner.

Fury led them into a large main lobby, complete with a network of desks and computers, and here he paused, looking around with interest gleaming in his eye.

"This is your Command Center." he said. "All the equipment in this facility is of the highest caliber – the technology in here is no exception. All monitoring and surveillance equipment which SHIELD has can be accessed from your servers, if one possesses the correct password."

Toushiro nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing.

"I suppose I will be able to give my own agents the required security clearance to access SHIELD secrets?" he said sharply. Fury looked at him with a raised brow, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes, you will." He replied coolly. "And in turn, I have the clearance to divulge the existence of the SRD to any agents I deem worthy."

Hitsugaya's scowl grew into a snarl, and not for the first time were both Thor and Fury reminded that the young man was in fact not human at all.

"Just remember." Toushiro warned. "I will order anyone who discovers the SRD's true purpose without my explicit permission to be assassinated. You may want to consider the inquisitiveness of the agents you reveal us to before saying anything."

Fury gave the snow-topped captain a look of disbelief, tinged with a hint of skeptical annoyance.

"Which is why your department requires a special evaluation before any information about it is revealed." His eyebrows rose in question. "An evaluation which you will help create."

Hitsugaya's lips curled up slightly, a sly glint entering the depths of his stare.

"Very funny." He said dryly. "You're the spy. You should know better than anyone not to take any promises at face value. Especially when the aforementioned promises are made by spies. Forgive me if I don't believe that you're always going to _use_ that evaluation. I figured I would warn you anyway."

Fury's mouth twitched as well, until it seemed that his almost-smile matched Hitsugaya's. Thor looked from one to the other, confused. Then the stare was broken, and Fury led the way towards the back of the Command Center, where a sliding door made of bulletproof glass sealed off the entrance to a neat stone staircase made of polished black granite. After Fury keyed in an access code, which was quickly passed on to Hitsugaya, the trio strode up this staircase and came upon a solid black door with bulletproof glass paneling towards the top. They stopped before this door, and Fury gestured at a small touch-pad with the outline of a hand on one side of it, just over where the lock would be.

"If you would place your hand on that, Commander." He requested. Toushiro stared at the small screen curiously for a moment, then walked over and pressed his palm to the glossy surface. It immediately lit up, a band of green light slowly descending down the screen.

The other side of the screen blinked rapidly for a few moments, then finally lit up, the words _Handprint not in database_ flashing briefly onto the screen, a feminine voice repeating the message from a speaker overhead. Fury cleared his throat.

"Voice command." He said, his tone unusually clear. "Override, Fury. Send palm scan to Commander Hitsugaya Toushiro's profile."

The computer was silent for a moment, but then the feminine voice spoke again in a cool, dry monotone.

 _~"Handprint registered to Hitsugaya, Toushiro, Level 10+, SRD Commander. Pulse registered. Access granted."~_

The black door popped open on pneumatic hinges, swinging outwards to reveal that the far wall was comprised entirely of bulletproof glass reinforced at the joints with steel bars. Shaped like a long rectangle, the room had a long, sleek white desk bent in an L-shape standing at the far end, three high-tech computer screens arranged in a cluster at the bent end of the desk. The walls were painted the same smooth, cool grey as the rest of the building, and the floor was made of the same polished black granite.

Fury gestured at the desk, noting Hitsugaya's raised eyebrow with a hint of amusement.

"This," he informed the shinigami carefully, "is your office, should you choose to use it. All the technology here is of the highest caliber, and when the door scanned your handprint that data was transferred to your profile. All of the computers here use touchscreens equipped with fingerprint scanners, and the desk is equipped with several holographic computer projectors which require a passcode from the centermost computer screen. Only you will be able to activate them from this moment on."

Toushiro shot Thor a sharp glance and just as quickly flicked his attention back to Fury.

"Top-notch security." He said softly. "And you even included a pulse reader on the door's scanner to make sure that no one could cut off one of my hands and use it to open the door. It's almost like you are afraid that someone else could come in here…"

For a moment the air grew tense, and Hitsugaya's narrowed glare turned to a simmering annoyance. Fury winced inwardly. If mere security bothered the boy this much…how would he feel when he discovered the trackers hidden inside the lining of his clothes, or the hidden surveillance cameras installed around the facility?

"I don't need anyone to protect me, Fury. In case you didn't realize. If this is what you wanted to discuss, you should save your breath." He snapped, and the SHIELD Director rolled his eyes at the ice in the preteen's tone, moving his thoughts away from the dangerous topics.

"I am going to point out something which you should already know and understand, Commander Hitsugaya." He said, his tone sharp. "You are an extremely dangerous individual at this point in time, to both your allies and your enemies, and that is further amplified by the fact that you have six energy sources connected to your reserves of power. On top of that, Earth was just _invaded_ by aliens looking for  one of those little stones in your head. I think you get where I'm going with this."

Toushiro scowl turned slowly into a snarl, but Fury remained impressively unmoved.

"You're a liability, Hitsugaya." He said bluntly. "And even you know it. Every second you spend alive is a second that you're tempting the fate of my world. Given the fact that you and your people are not hostile towards humans, we have no reason to act against you. But that does _not_ mean we are going to let you walk around freely. Your pride means absolutely nothing to me. I don't care what I will have to do to prevent evil people from getting their hands on you – I'll do it."

Rapid bands of light, flickering in color and intensity, began to spiral about Toushiro's fingertips and his tattoo slowly appeared on his forehead, all six colors swiftly flashing through it in random order. The snarl on his young face was dark now, killing intent clearly evident in his bared teeth. Thor's eyes widened, and he took a half-step forward, intent on placing himself between the incensed shinigami and his human counterpart.

However, someone beat him to the punch.

"Toushiro, stop."

Hitsugaya blinked and spun to face the door, the swirls of color and power still misting about him in thin streams. Suddenly his jaw tightened, his eyebrows knitting together.

Steve was leaning against the doorframe, his disapproval plain on his face. He was wearing civilian clothes and if the dampness of his hair and clothes were any indication, it had been raining outside. The young shinigami just looked at Steve, conflicting emotions passing across his face at lightning pace, the Infinity Stones' powers still active in his blood while he debated with himself.

"Toushiro." Steve repeated, his tone still effortlessly patient. "Calm down, please."

Slowly the streams of color wreathing Toushiro's face and hands dissolved, and his tattoos faded back into his skin as the gigai's concealing powers took effect. Several long moments passed after the Infinity Stones' power faded before anyone spoke again.

"You know, Toushiro, you're acting exceedingly immature." Steve said calmly, eliciting a snarl of displeasure from the young commander. Both Fury and Thor shot sharp glances at the 40's superhero, stunned by his bluntness – and how he CHOSE to broach a touchy subject with the captain.

"Excuse me?" Toushiro hissed. Steve raised an eyebrow, looking at the young commander coolly.

"You. Are. Acting. Like. A. Child." The supersoldier said each word slowly and clearly, placing emphasis on each one. "Stop throwing a tantrum just because you can't have what you want – in this case, control over your security systems."

Toushiro's jade glare widened into blazing anger, but Steve held up a hand to stop the boy, compassion replacing the disapproval.

"Look, Toushiro, I know how it feels to be forced to stand down while others fight in your place." He said gently. "I don't know if anyone's told you about this, but my physical capabilities actually came from a serum. Every super-human element I have came from a lab. Before that, I was a skinny, sickly kid with asthma so bad that I sometimes couldn't go outside."

Cold anger melted into soft confusion, and Toushiro's scowl turned slowly into a frown. Steve sighed, slowly approaching the boy before him.

"I wanted nothing more than to go fight in Germany." He said, smiling a little bit at the memory. "But every time I tried to register for the draft, I was denied. The army wouldn't take me. I was too sick. So I was forced to stay home while every other young man my age was sent overseas. But I understand why I was turned down now. If I had been accepted and sent to Europe, I would have been a liability to my fellow soldiers."

Steve knelt before the young captain, taking the boy's shoulders in his hands. Toushiro stared, uncomprehending for a long moment.

"I know this hurts you." Steve admitted sadly. "And given a choice, I wouldn't do this to you. Nobody here would. But you're a liability to us, Toushiro. You know it. It's not because you're weak, and it's not because we think of you as a little kid. It's because we can't afford for _anyone_ to capture you. Your new powers are just that important. So we really need you to put aside your pride for the moment and accept that we're going to be careful with you. _Please._ "

Hitsugaya gritted his teeth and focused that intense emerald glare of his firmly on the ground.

"Nobody on your planet can so much as touch me." He snapped. "Nor could any of those aliens. I'm stronger than anything here."

Steve groaned.

"Are you more powerful than anything and everything out in the rest of the galaxy, then?" he snapped back. "No, you're not. You showed most of the Avengers that scar on your chest and shoulder. What if someone as strong as the person who gave it to you comes back?"

Hitsugaya tensed, but said nothing, and Steve pressed his advantage as best as he could. He could feel Fury's slight alarm at how close he was coming to telling the kid about the danger that he was in, but at the moment he wasn't aiming to scare the boy. So he sidestepped the obvious and classified argument – the one about the alien named Thanos. And heaven forbid anyone mention the watch they'd set over him.

"You don't know anything about the aliens still floating around the universe." He said harshly. "Nobody here does. And you think your pride is worth putting the entire Earth at risk?"

Toushiro looked up sharply, his mouth opening soundlessly. And then Steve knew that he'd won. Perhaps he wouldn't have if Toushiro had managed to retain his hatred of the human race. But the Battle of New York had broken that prejudice.

Slowly, the preteen's posture slumped. His nails curled into his palms like daggers, and Steve started in surprise when a thin trace of blood dripped from between Toushiro's strong, slender fingers.

"I…" Toushiro's tone was tired, a definite edge coming to cool the bitter sting of his words, but there was no fight left in his words. "I understand, Rogers-san."

The supersoldier's blue gaze crumpled in hurt at the sudden coldness, and he reached out to the boy, trying to break through the shell that had once again gone up.

"Toushiro, it's not-" he tried urgently.

"Just go, alright?"

Hitsugaya was rubbing circles into his temples with his unbloodied hand, his face exhausted and somehow sad, but there was no mistaking the command in his voice. Steve stared for a brief moment, deflating somewhat as he did so.

"Toushiro-"

" **Go** , Steve. You too, Thor. And Fury…get the hell out of my office."

The three stared at the preteen for several long moments, uneasy with leaving the teenager by himself when such a terrible blow had just been dealt to his psyche. But Fury, respecting the shinigami captain's orders, left quickly, motioning subtly for Thor and Steve to follow.

The two Avengers exchanged long, worried looks, but eventually turned to leave and headed for the door. Toushiro stood facing the window, now pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to keep his composure. And suddenly a wave of overprotective, brotherly compassion swept over the supersoldier. He let Thor continue on for a few moments, standing silently in the doorway until the Asgardian was out of sight, and then spoke again.

"We're here for you if you want to talk, Toushiro." Steve said quietly, facing away from the white-haired captain. " _I'm_ here for you if you want to talk."

For a long moment there was silence, and then…

"…I've always hated the way I look." Hitsugaya said quietly. "Did you know that?"

Steve glanced over his shoulder, a bit startled by the abrupt change of topic. He blinked, the glare of the sun on the floor-to-ceiling windows bouncing brightly into his eyes.

"I…didn't. Why?" he said slowly. Toushiro's shoulders rose and fell a little bit, as if he'd taken a deep breath.

"After I died…I…I woke up in the rural districts of Soul Society, called Rukongai. People there are…superstitious. Even more so than the Germans I lived with before World War One." He admitted tonelessly. "My hair and eyes…people said I was a demon. I had several of the residents try to kill me."

Another sigh.

"After I discovered my reiatsu, I went to the Shinou Academy, and again, my appearance defined me." He said. "My body is that of a child, and…I was looked down upon. Even when I finally entered the ranks of the Gotei 13, I was patronized, mocked and underestimated."

He turned, faced Steve with such a lost expression that the supersoldier instinctively found himself wanting to give the preteen a hug.

"The only thing I could rely on was my _power_ , Steve. I defined myself by it!" He said, desperation entering his tone. "For nearly a century, the only way I could get people to take me seriously was by showing my powers, and now…"

Steve's eyes went round in understanding.

"And now it's your power that's trapping you." He realized. "It's your new powers that are holding you back, and suddenly you feel like you've lost a piece of who you're supposed to be."

Toushiro nodded, the desolation hollowing his cheeks a fading plea.

"Please, Steve." He said, the white mop of his hair beginning to freeze over slightly. "I won't know who I am if I can't protect my friends with my power. Thor's already told me that there are aliens moving against me. He's already made me swear to run should the Earth, Asgard, and Soul Society fall."

Steve's brow furrowed in consternation, logic and compassion warring in the chiseled edges of his jawline, the sheer tension between the two almost painful to watch. And almost as if he knew that this indecision would be his only chance, Toushiro pressed his advantage.

"All I _have_ are my abilities. There's _nothing_ else that makes me a valuable piece in Seireitei." His tone was beseeching, anguish on his face. "Don't….don't turn that against me. I've worked too hard – I've spent too long paying in _blood_ for my power! It took me nearly three-quarters of a  century to get to where I am today. Don't…don't you _dare_ belittle all that work I put into my powers!"

The supersoldier gritted his teeth, regarding the obvious distress on Hitsugaya's face with the eye of an older brother.

"Toushiro…" he started. "We _can't_ let anyone get their hands on you."

The white-haired boy's face became infused with a measure of panic, startling Steve, and the tall man held up his hands in a gesture of peace, his face anxious.

"That doesn't mean we won't let you help, son." Steve said, halting the rising storm of Toushiro's mixed anger and fear. "But you _are_ hereby banned from the frontlines. We know you're strong – you're stronger than anyone I've met. New York would've been chunky salsa if it hadn't been for you. But that was your turn to protect us. Now it's our turn to protect you, okay? Besides, Commander-General Yamamoto told us how smart you are. You'll be invaluable in the strategy department – we can't afford to waste your tactical brilliance."

Hitsugaya's gaze fell, and Steve quickly knelt in front of the preteen and took the boy's chin in his hand, forcing the jade stare to meet his blue eyes.

"Hey." He said softly. "Just a side note; you're more than your powers. You're the kid who manages to out-sass Tony. You're the kid who has _Natasha Romanoff_ twirled round your little finger. You're the only person on this entire planet who has even the slightest understanding of what it feels like to die in war – the only person who can understand me. You're the boy who nearly _died_ to save Earth. You're passionate, caring, smart, feisty and sometimes a total smart-ass. And you're family."

If Toushiro was made of glass, the force of that conviction would've shattered him entirely. As it was, he settled for staring in complete shock, and Steve cupped his hands around the pale cheeks, his expression fierce.

"All of us – Bruce, Tony, Clint, Natasha, Thor, you and me – we're brothers." Steve said sternly. "In Natasha's case, a sister, but you get my point. We don't _care_ how anyone in Soul Society views you. You are _not_ a weapon. You are _not_ worthless without your power. So no, SHIELD will _not_ loosen the security around you. And _no_ , SHIELD will _not_ let you fight anyone who we're not sure that you will defeat. Because you're worth **more** than that."

Hitsugaya stared in shock, his arms hanging loosely at his sides, his thoughts whirling around the inside of his skull. The force – _the certainty_ – in Steve's brief monologue was overwhelming, so much so that the words crashed through the walls of honor and duty and protocol that he was supposed to follow as a shinigami.

"Not in Seireitei." He said quietly, finally finding his tongue. "If I lose my power, I lose my importance, and then it's only a short time before the other captains begin to treat me as a joke. Then my subordinates gradually transfer out, and eventually the Tenth will shut down or I'll be assassinated or deposed so that another captain will take my place. I _will NOT_ let that happen. I will  never let that happen to me. Not after I gave so much of myself."

Steve sighed deeply, considering. Toushiro had given such a scenario a lot of thought, he could tell, and it would be cruel to ignore the preteen's worries.

"Well, you're not in Seireitei, now are you?" he asked slowly, gently. "You're on Earth. With us. Let down your guard, Toushiro, just here. Let us protect you. Just while you're here, let yourself be protected. Let your worth be determined by your heart and your head and not your power. I know you worked hard. I can tell. But just here…let us be our paranoid spy selves and protect you. Please."

Green flickered unsteadily, the boy's gaze suddenly roaming over the slick walls and floor of his new office with unnatural interest, but Steve wouldn't let the boy evade the question.

"Please, kiddo?" he asked gently, still holding Toushiro's cold, young face in his hands. "I…I had to watch you die once. Because I – because _none_ of us – could save you. None of us could protect you. I've already been responsible for the death of my best friend. So please, don't make me go through that again. I know you're stronger than me. Everyone knows how powerful you are. But…It would make us feel better to know that we were helping to keep you safe."

Steve swallowed hard.

"I don't ever want to watch you die again, son. I can't…I can't lose anyone else." He whispered.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened fractionally as the vague, faded memories of the Tesseract's initial merging surfaced in his head. He could remember Steve's voice…upset. Because he'd died, because the Tesseract's inexorable power had overwhelmed him and sent him spiraling into the dark. And suddenly it hit him. He hadn't seen any of the Avengers except Thor in months. _Months_. And the last time they'd seen him…he'd been comatose, fighting for his life against an _energy source_. He'd been practically dying in front of them, and…

"I…" Toushiro whispered then, the rush of guilt – oh, he knew what it felt like to watch a loved one die, right Hinamori? – flooding through him like a tsunami. He'd put them through all _that_ , and now he was refusing to accept their protection? Steve was practically in shambles in front of him and…

He was curt and guarded and reserved, not a complete _asshole._ Besides…in the end, he'd still be responsible for the real threats to his safety – the ones that the Avengers couldn't defeat.

"Okay…" he murmured gently.

Steve's face broke into something like relief, and without warning, Toushiro found himself drawn into a massive hug. The dampness of Steve's checkered button-down clung to his haori and slid off the bulletproof suit beneath to further moisten his white haori. Hitsugaya stiffened abruptly; unsure of what he should do, then hesitantly patted the superhuman man on the back.

Steve laughed a bit at his awkwardness, then stood up and ruffled Toushiro's white hair before the shinigami captain could say anything.

"I missed you, son." He said, cutting off the annoyed outburst that had been forming to protest the hair-ruffle. And Toushiro sighed, a certain fondness now gracing his face.

"Hn." He grunted, his cheeks tinged with pale pink. "…good to see you too."

* * *

Reviews are appreciated - please leave some! :D

~avtorSola


	7. Seven Avengers, Reunited

**A/N:** Plot points planted, but otherwise a reunion chappie. After this, the plot marches onward!

* * *

Steve led him down the long concrete corridors towards the soldiers' barracks, seemingly knowing exactly where he was going. Toushiro trailed behind in his usual imposing manner, his haori swirling about his ankles, his long Zanpakutou belted to his back and the dagger Tony had given him just visible over the top of his boot. Steve watched the preteen out of the corner of his eye, slightly amused by the young man's deadpan expression.

 _"_ _We have got to make this kid laugh sometimes."_ Steve thought. _"Or at least smile."_

The supersoldier stopped in front of a sliding door and tapped a few buttons, watching with pleasant surprise as the door slid back, revealing that in the time he'd been trying to convince Toushiro to allow extra security, both Natasha and Tony had arrived, joining Bruce in the breakroom.

Natasha stood up at Steve stepped into the doorway, her stare unwavering.

"Steve, what happened with Toushiro-kun?" she asked quickly, raising a red eyebrow. "Fury just came whirling through here like a tornado and left in a helicopter. I've never seen him blatantly pissed before."

Toushiro scoffed lightly and stepped out from where he'd hidden behind Steve, rolling his green eyes.

"I ordered him out of my compound." He said haughtily. "He was infuriating me."

Natasha, Bruce, Thor, and Tony blinked. Steve took pity on them, plopping down on one of the comfortable couches in the middle of the room.

"Toushiro was forced to accept SHIELD's protection." He offered by way of explanation, ignoring the glare that the short shinigami cast his way. The other Avengers made noises of understanding, all in perfect unison.

"Ohhhh…"

Toushiro went a bit pink in the face. The memory of Steve's heartfelt appeal to his emotions was still quite fresh.

"Oi!" he protested. "I've been fending for myself for a century – It's a big adjustment!"

Tony looked at Steve, his gaze challenging.

"Were there any punches or anything, Capsicle?" he asked, his tone somewhat whiny. Thor rolled his eyes and sighed, exchanging a long look with the supersoldier being questioned. Apparently he'd already been asked the same question. Steve blinked.

"Uh…no." he said, bewildered, and Tony groaned, taking a pillow and mashing it over his face for a few seconds while everyone else looked on, confused.

"Dammit, now I owe Legolas twenty bucks." He moaned, setting the pillow back onto the couch cushion beside him. A vein pulsed in Toushiro's forehead.

"Tony Stark." He said, his tone dangerous. "Did you and Clint bet on whether or not Fury and I would come to blows?"

Tony shrugged, looking completely nonchalant, and he leaned back in the black cushions with an aura of indignant, wounded pride.

"…maybe." He said cagily, and Toushiro's brow darkened. The other Avengers looked on, mirth rising to their faces.

"Tony!" he growled, his hand going back towards the hilt of his Zanpakutou, fingers brushing over the chilled surface. Suddenly Tony looked very nervous, as if just realizing how much danger he'd put himself in. Steve shivered a bit. The room had quite abruptly become very cold.

"Well…uh…come on, kiddo, it was just a bet!" he said quickly, scooting towards the far end of his couch. "You know, we weren't sure how…um…how stable you'd be with six stones in your head…"

"TONY!"

Natasha burst into full-bodied laughter as the pint-sized captain tackled the billionaire off the couch, exchanging an amused smile with Steve as the white-haired boy pummeled Tony with a hail of light punches. The supersoldier sighed, his voice resigned, and leaned back heavily on the couch cushions next to the spy-woman, smiling despite himself as Tony tried to escape Toushiro's wrath. Natasha grinned at him, scooting a bit closer to the soldier and leaning up to whisper in his ear.

"How's the kid?" she asked quietly. Steve shrugged.

"Uptight." He said back, his tone equally as soft. "He's unhappy that he needs protection."

Natasha's lips pursed, and she leaned back against the couch with all the casual sass she could muster – which was quite a lot – and groaned.

"It's going to be hell trying to get him to open up any more than he did in New York." She hissed into the soldier's ear. Steve's eyebrows pressed down low over his eyes, his face turning both upset and pained at once.

"I know." He said shortly, his voice strained. "I had to pull the 'you-almost-died' card to convince him to allow extra security. Up until that point, he was still fighting it."

The assassin's face whitened in shock.

"He doesn't trust us?" she asked. Steve chuckled a bit at that.

"No, I think he does." He reassured her. Then his face became dark. "Tasha, he defines his own self-worth by the measure of his strength. He's been taught that. When we take that away from him…he doesn't know how to function. He's put so much effort into making himself unbreakable that he's like glass once that power is gone. Can you imagine?"

Natasha thought for a moment, then nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, I think I can." She said slowly. "And if it's anything like what I went through…He's going to have a lot of trouble in the next few months."

Steve winced at the thought, then sat up a little straighter as Toushiro sent Tony careening headfirst into the windowsill with a well-placed kick.

"I guess that's why we're here." He mused thoughtfully. "To show him that he's more than a soldier. More than the invincible ice dragon he thinks he is."

Natasha smiled, slinging an arm about Steve's neck and tugging him closer. The supersoldier spluttered a bit.

"We all have to learn that somehow. Some of us later than others." She said cheerfully, pointedly jabbing at Steve's bicep. "Now, shouldn't we step in before Toushiro cracks the resident billionaire's head open?"

Steve considered for a moment, watching the amusing scene playing out before them blankly. He appeared to be thinking the suggestion over. Finally, he sighed.

"I suppose." He conceded in an undertone. Then he cleared his throat and spoke so that everyone could hear him. "Toushiro, please don't kill Tony. We still need him. Besides…we need to talk. All of us."

Toushiro growled a warning out at the cowering billionaire, then reluctantly stepped away, glancing quizzically at Steve. Tony crawled out from where he'd hidden behind the room's lone ottoman, then stood. He sighed, running his fingers through his brown hair. Suddenly the room grew very quiet.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Toushiro?" Bruce asked then, his voice soft and nonthreatening, but once could almost hear the Hulk's anger in his voice. The young captain blinked.

"About what?" he asked, somewhat confused by the lack of a clear topic. Bruce let out a shaky laugh, his tone wavering.

"Your _suicide_ attempt." He said, and his voice cracked on the word 'suicide'. Toushiro flinched visibly. Bruce didn't seem to notice. The breakroom was utterly still, the Avengers each remembering the anger which had been forgotten in the hazy happiness of reuniting with the teenager who had nearly died to save them. Only Steve's expression stayed neutral – he'd done the same thing, once upon a time, and knew he had no right to express his anger without being a complete and utter hypocrite.

Hitsugaya was silent for a long moment, staring at the ground, a mysterious shame written across his face, and Bruce shook his head, tears pricking in brown eyes.

"I…I tried, so many times, to get your heart beating again." He stuttered out. "Every time I breathed into your lungs I was hoping against all hope that you'd start coughing, that you'd miraculously come back. And I cursed every breath that I gave you, because your heart was supposed to be beating on its own. You were supposed to be breathing on your own, supposed to be acting like your smug self, and you weren't, and even the _Other Guy_ was sad about it, because for the first time in my life I couldn't feel his anger…"

Toushiro's jade gaze didn't rise, but from the shadow growing over his brow Steve guessed that the words were hitting their mark. He made eye contact with the scientist, slowly shook his head in warning, then turned to Tony and nodded. Next up.

"…of all the stupid decisions you've made, kid, that was probably the worst." Tony agreed hotly. "I mean, did you even think of how we would feel afterwards? When you fell, the only thing that I could think of was all the ways I could have saved you. If I had just been a little faster, a little smarter, you would have been alive…"

Natasha sighed as the door slid open to reveal a somewhat disheveled Clint. He'd obviously just gotten out of a helicopter.

"Don't do it again, kid." She said bluntly, taking over from where Tony had left off, her eyes narrowing. "I don't think you realize this fully, but we're still living. We tend to place more emphasis on death than you and your people seem to."

Clint raised a brow at the lot of them, crossing over the smooth, dark blue carpet and collapsing heavily onto one of the couches across from Tony's ottoman.

"Oh." He said briefly. "Are we chewing the brat out for getting himself killed?"

Toushiro's temper flared, the icy white of his reiatsu flickering once over his skin.

"I'm not a-"

"Shut up." Clint said sharply, glaring at the now-annoyed shinigami standing across from him. "You're a brat. A kid. A _child_. I know you're older than me, I know you're dead. But do you have children? Do you have _any_ idea what it feels like to be a parent?"

Toushiro blinked, as did everyone except Natasha. This was new. Slowly, Toushiro shook his head, white hair brushing over his eyes in its usual messy way. Clint took a deep breath.

"Well, I do." He snapped. "And the one thing that _every_ parent fears is losing a child. _That's_ what you did to us. We didn't only lose a friend when you fell; we lost a _kid_ with too much life left for him to still experience."

Clint buried his face in his hands for a moment, trying to regain his composure.

"When I saw you lying there…the only thing I could think was that I'd just watched a kid die, and _I couldn't do anything about it_." He said, his voice strained. "I think that was the only thing that _any_ of us could concentrate on."

Toushiro was quiet for a long, slow minute, his green stare dark with mixed sorrow and anger. Finally, he took a deep breath and, exhaling softly, he spoke again.

"I know. I'm sorry." He said, his voice low. "I know how it feels to lose someone you love, and I didn't want to put you through that. But I couldn't…I couldn't let someone close to me die again. I'm not strong enough to take that sort of pain a second time around."

Steve blinked at the soft statement and leaned forward a bit, blue eyes shining. With his hands occupied twisting themselves into knots, he found himself able to speak for the first time without a shred of hypocrisy.

"And you thought that we could handle the grief of your death?" he asked softly. "Toushiro, you barely know what anyone here has been through. There are pieces of ourselves which we haven't shown you yet. Hell, I know for a fact that there are parts of my past which I've kept to myself – what's to say that the others haven't been keeping certain things quiet as well?"

The young shinigami smiled, but the smile wasn't pleasant or kind in any way. Instead, there was a terrible, horrible anguish present in the corners of his lips, a frenetic rage drowned by freezing grief burning though the suddenly hollow eye-sockets in his face. Thoughts of Hinamori swirled in his mind, of the friendship and trust that had once been so powerful – all shattered by his blind sword. They were broken now. Still trying…but it wasn't the same anymore.

"Steve." He said gently, his tone so terribly quiet. "Please stop talking. I know how it feels to lose people. And I know one thing above everything else."

He looked up, and suddenly the Avengers' anger towards their young companion faded a little bit.

"I'm a dragon." He said slowly, clearly. "And the people in my heart are my hoard. And when I lose anything I treasure…I…I lose it. You saw the scar on my shoulder. That's what happens to me when I lose people. That time…it was my sister. She survived thanks to our doctors, but it was a close thing, and I was the one to discover her, bleeding out on the floor…"

Toushiro swallowed hard, staring at the navy carpet.

"I will only say this one more time." He said softly. "I spent most of my life shunned. When I lose those few who do not…that's my breaking point. I _cannot_ watch another person I love die in front of me. I won't survive that."

There was a pregnant pause, and the breakroom was utterly quiet for several long minutes. Tony blinked slowly at the young captain, then glanced quickly around the room to see that nobody else was going to pursue the obvious question.

"…What do you mean by, 'another,' kiddo?" Tony asked in his usual blunt fashion, eliciting a round of glares from the other Avengers, but the words had already left his lips. Toushiro's gaze slowly rose to fixate on the billionaire's face, a carefully neutral expression curling the tension in his pale young cheeks down through his neck.

"Watch it, Stark." Hitsugaya said softly, nostrils flaring a bit. "You know me, true, but don't think for even a second that I want to tell you my entire afterlife story. You know enough to understand as it is."

Tony opened his mouth, looking ready to argue, but Steve held up a hand, silencing the genius with a wave of his hand.

"Tony. You know what he means when he says 'another.' Let the matter drop." The captain said gently. Then he looked at the young shinigami with understanding in his blue eyes, a sigh escaping him.

"Toushiro, if you ever want to talk about it, you more than welcome to find us." He told the boy. "But do us a favor and don't pull another stupid stunt like that again. Fighting an army of aliens was stressful enough without knowing that your life depended on us."

Hitsugaya's green glare narrowed a bit, but the corded muscles in his shoulders and neck relaxed, and the hostility that had flared up in the face of Tony's curiosity faded away. Steve smiled a bit, then glanced around the room.

"I think we've all had our say concerning your crazy plan in New York." He determined. "Unless…Thor?"

The thundergod glanced over his shoulder at the preteen shinigami, his blond hair caught on his cape a bit. He'd been poking around in the breakroom cabinets for the past several minutes, and now an empty box of Pop-Tarts lay on the counter.

"I have nothing to say." He said simply, innocently stepping in front of the empty box. "Toushiro is well aware of our displeasure at this point in time. I will not lay further guilt on him."

"Alright then." Steve said, turning to the young shinigami with a smile. But the SRD Commander wasn't looking at the supersoldier. Instead, he was staring at the box half-hidden behind Thor with wide, curious eyes. Without warning, he cocked his head to the side and started chewing his lower lip, the brilliant jade stare fixated on the box and the cartoon Pop-Tarts on the box's side. Steve almost choked, and all the Avengers covered their mouths with their hands to hide their smiles.

"Damn." Natasha whispered into the captain's ear. "That kid could give a kitten a run for its money."

Steve shook his head slowly.

"That's not what I'm seeing." He muttered back. "Natasha, we've got our work cut out for us."

The spy frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Steve gestured at Toushiro's baffled face.

"If I'm reading that right…he doesn't know what Pop-Tarts are. Heaven knows what else he won't recognize."

Natasha paled.

"Oh shit."

* * *

I love reviews. Those of you who have reviewed - Thanks so much! Those of you who haven't - Please?


	8. Training Troubles

**A/N** : Sorry for the wait. On the plus side, however...I have another chapter already written. So hopefully I'll be on schedule for a little bit!

"Thoughts/Telepathy"

~"Artificial Communications"~

"Zanpakutou speaking"

" **Japanese** "

* * *

The lights were blinding, and he hated them. They shouldn't exist. It was an unnatural waste of both energy and space, and he needed to fix it. Badly.

"My lord, you are restless. May I be of assistance?"

He half-turned, throwing his scaled face into sharp, terrifying profile. Thanos flinched at the sight, and Dvaoudar smiled cruelly, his sharp mandibles framing the fang-like teeth in his mouth with the barest glint of charred-bone black. He did enjoy Thanos's fear – it was quite pleasant.

"Find me the Kismet, fool." He hissed. "Its revival was the key needed to unlock my cell. It must be found! I want it found!"

Thanos bowed deeply.

"My underlings search for it as we speak. They will send me a direct report when they find a trace of its energies. Is there anything you wish for in the meantime?"

Dvaoudar's six pointed legs clicked against the dark stone, the hiss of his scaly tail rasping over the smooth floor with bone-chilling subtlety. He thought for a moment, poison dripping from one curved tooth.

"Build me an army fit to destroy the universe." He demanded gleefully, and Thanos nodded obediently.

"Of course, my liege." Then he was gone, and Dvaoudar was left alone in the sleek obsidian palace, staring out at the distant stars in disgust. He snarled and blinked, focusing on the large, beautiful blue star gleaming just over the lip of the nearest black hole, watching the soothing orbit of the smallest planet circle around the bright star, its rocky surface gleaming with sweet life. Dvaoudar drew on his power and closed his eyes.

And when he looked out into space again, the star was gone, and the black hole was belching its cannibalistic entrails out into the deeps of space, frying the darkened planet with radiation. The creatures on the planet's surface melted into radioactive sludge, and Dvaoudar gasped out a hissing breath, exhausted by the effort it had taken to push the star into the black hole's center. But the stench of the dead planet was sweet to his nostrils, and he knew that the expenditure of energy had been worth it.

He laughed his cruel laugh, the sound like the screech of breaking metal twined with the groans of the dying, and turned his thoughts to the remaining creatures of the universe, reaching out for the hints of darkness permeating the souls of the trillions of lives. And when he found a few particularly strong allies, he grinned evilly and began whispering his thoughts to them. Slowly poisoning them. Turning them to his side.

It was time to begin his master plan.

* * *

Toushiro frowned, eyes narrowing in concentration as he stared at the objects before him. Natasha and Clint were standing off to the side, watching intently, silently praying that their patient explanations had paid off. For a moment, there was silence, the only sound the soft puff of the Avengers' breathing. And then the shinigami captain tapped the first object, his brow smooth.

"Toaster." He said blandly, his gaze flat. "Used to toast bread. Don't stick anything metal into it or risk electrocution."

Then his gaze moved to the next object.

"DVD player. A digital video disc goes into the slot, and the movie saved onto the disc plays on a television."

He continued in this vein for several more minutes, also identifying a microwave, smartphone, and an iPod. But finally, he was finished, and he turned to Natasha and Clint with an expectant look, the keen jade glint in his eyes fixated upon them. Clint looked at the clipboard in his hands, blinking in something like tired surprise.

"Well done, Toushiro." he said faintly. "Twenty-fourth time's the charm."

Hitsugaya flushed a pretty shade of pink, a scowl staining the youth on his face with adult annoyance. Of all the shinigami currently living and working in the SRD, he had taken the longest to acclimate to human appliances. To nobody's surprise, his lieutenant had taken the shortest amount of time to pass the Avengers' test - only three days. In contrast, it had taken Toushiro near to two weeks to memorize the usages of each modern-day appliance.

"Oi, I've been trying to put together the training regimen for Bruce and Steve as well as review the resumes for each of the new batch of candidates that Fury has sent to us. Right now we only have two humans besides the Avengers with viable reiatsu - we need at least ten to start up the two pilot squads." Toushiro defended himself irritably. "And then two _smart-asses_ decided to dump their paperwork on me. I'm running on six hours of sleep in the past forty-eight hours."

Natasha just smirked, and winked at the young captain.

"I still think Tony would like to hear that story." she said slyly, glancing at Clint's puzzled expression in a sort of gleeful pleasure. Toushiro paled just a little bit, his tattoo flashing briefly over his brow in a flare of bright, electric-blue panic which illuminated the dark circles under his eyes in sharp relief.

"I swear, Natasha..." Toushiro growled out, trying to project a threatening aura as best as he could under threat of blackmail. The Black Widow cackled triumphantly.

"Speaking of Bruce and Steve, how have they been doing with the whole reiatsu-thing?" Natasha asked, pressing her hand to the scanner by the door and watching with satisfaction as the security system recognized her handprint. It had taken some time for Tony and Agent Hill to create SRD security profiles for all of the shinigami and Avengers, so it was nice to finally be able to open doors on their own.

Clint snickered a bit at Toushiro's resigned expression. The archer had been present for the first of Matsumoto's lessons - which, needless to say, hadn't gone well.

"Awful." Toushiro complained. "Bruce is progressing at the very least, but Steve is having all sorts of trouble wrapping his head around the concept. It's sort of maddening. Even Matsumoto is frustrated."

Natasha snorted.

"Yeah, like trying to teach you how to work a toaster wasn't difficult." she sniped back, causing the young man to flush pink yet again.

"Oh, shut up." Toushiro grumbled, leading the way through his compound with startling ease. He rubbed one of his eyes sleepily, trying not to yawn. "I'm too tired to banter with you."

Natasha and Clint exchanged knowing smiles over the young man's head. Then Clint spoke up.

"Maybe you should take a nap or something, Toushiro." he said, his tone light. "Sounds like you need the sleep."

The young captain nodded slowly, sighing.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to end up doing that inadvertently anyhow." he said ruefully, heading down the long hall towards the spacious training room. "But I need to check on Matsumoto, Steve and Bruce first. Kurosaki too, if he's there."

Natasha stood back as Toushiro pressed his palm to the keypad of the training room's steel-reinforced doors, and waited as the door's massive bolts unlocked. Slowly, with the AI security system's voice echoing a warning, the door slid open, and Toushiro stepped fearlessly through. Natasha and Clint were a bit slower to follow.

The wild force of Bruce's reiatsu hit Toushiro hard, an almost physical blow to his gut, and he smirked at the potency behind the mixed Hollow-human reiatsu. Bruce's power was unnaturally well-developed, but the Hollow bent made it difficult to control, Toushiro knew. He could relate - Hyourinmaru hadn't exactly been a piece of cake to deal with either.

" _Hyou-tama's rolling his eyes, Nii-tama."_

Toushiro let the smirk on his face dissipate into annoyance.

" _Tessa, cut the baby-talk, please."_ he told her, massaging his temples. " _And you know Hyourinmaru prefers you to use his full name."_

A spark of electric blue flashed over his iris, painting the whole world in Tesseract-colored light for half a second. The Space Stone swirled in his mind's eye for a few minutes, and he could feel her power stirring in his blood, electrifying his bones with pure, unadulterated energy.

" _You're so boring, Nii-sama."_ she said disapprovingly, and then went quiet. The buzzing rush faded to the usual dull murmur, the usual whispering hum that pulsed with his heartbeat. And Toushiro turned his attention to Bruce and Steve, watching as Matsumoto talked them through the steps for releasing one's reiatsu (again).

Bruce's wrathful green power filled the room again, a thunderous, soundless roar embedded deeply in the flaring pulse of Hollow-tainted reiatsu, but Steve's soft silvered-blue power wavered and shattered, dissolving into his body for the umpteenth time, and Toushiro sighed.

"That's enough, Matsumoto." he called out. The reiatsu permeating the room flickered and died. Bruce and Steve spun around to look at him. The pretty lieutenant folded her arms.

"Captain, shouldn't you be studying or something?" Matsumoto teased. Toushiro tossed his head irritably.

"I passed, alright?" he snapped, his temper frayed by his lack of sleep. Matsumoto's face softened.

"Captain, you look exhausted." she told him gently. "Have you been burning the midnight oil again?"

Toushiro paused, discovered he was too tired to deny it, and nodded. Natasha smiled a little bit, the curl of her mouth fond.

"Six hours of sleep in a forty-eight hour period, or so he told Clint and I." she offered, ignoring the nasty look which Toushiro threw her way. "But I think he was planning on going to sleep after this."

Matsumoto stared hard at her captain until he reluctantly acknowledged the validity of the Russian woman's statement. Then she smiled cheerfully, and motioned to Steve and Bruce, telling them to pay attention to her captain wordlessly.

"You had something to say, Taicho?" she chirped, and Hitsugaya nodded once.

"Two things actually." he said tiredly. "First is for Bruce. Well done - you're ready to move to the next part of your training. I've spoken with a few of Kurosaki's allies, all of whom have an inner Hollow similar to your Hulk. One of them has agreed to come here and help you master your powers."

Bruce buried his face in his hands, hiding the smile forming on his face. He took a brief moment to compose himself, then breathed deeply and asked a trembling question.

"Once I master it...will the Hulk be able to break free and go on rampage?"

Toushiro considered for a moment, tasting Bruce's reiatsu on his tongue, comparing it to Kurosaki's and the Vizards'. The similarities were so prominent...

"Probably...not." he concluded then, slowly realizing what that meant to the scientist. Jade eyes widened a bit, focusing on Bruce's face with a burgeoning smile forming on his lips. The other Avengers blinked, the news not registering with them for the first few minutes. Bruce, however, understood immediately. His hands came away from his face just enough to reveal his eyes, which were red-rimmed and somewhat watery.

"You...you've just given me my life back." he whispered. "You've just given me a chance to get my old life back."

Toushiro held up a hand, the compassionate happiness on his face marred by an amused smirk. Steve, Natasha and Clint began to smile, realizing how much it meant to Bruce to be offered that chance.

"You still have to complete the training." Toushiro warned. "And if what Kurosaki says is true, then it's a hell of a ride. You might not be able to do it."

Bruce shook his head, brown curls bouncing.

"But I have a chance now." he said, his tone almost overcome. "I have a _chance_. That's more than I've ever had before."

Toushiro shrugged a bit self-consciously, looking and feeling awkward. Then he shook himself.

"Well, congratulations to you, at the very least." he said, the smile on his face slowly turning to one of exasperation. "But...come on, Steve. You're better than this."

The supersoldier, who had been moments ago grinning alongside the two assassins, suddenly became frustrated.

"Oh no." he said, pointing a finger at the young commander. His blue eyes were narrow. "Don't you start with me, son."

Clint and Natasha started giggling as Toushiro huffed irritably and crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's actually not _that_ difficult to feel your reiatsu, Steve!" he said exasperatedly. The supersoldier raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh. Sure." he said, unconvinced. "So that's why you didn't notice yours until Miss Rangiku woke you up in the middle of the night to show you that you'd covered your entire room in ice?"

Toushiro flushed pink, his mouth opening soundlessly. For a moment he gaped like a fish out of water, unable to speak, well-aware that Matsumoto, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Steve were all silently laughing at him and his surprise. Had he really thought that his lieutenant _wouldn't_ tell stories about him? Then he froze.

"Oh..." he said softly, the quiet response startling the others into paying attention. "So that's it..."

For the first time, Steve felt a little bit apprehensive. Cautiously, he stepped forward, gazing at the young man standing in front of him with curiosity in his bright blue eyes.

"What is it, kiddo?" the supersoldier asked carefully, watching the boy carefully. Slowly, Toushiro raised his head, gaze downcast, lips curled in a bitter smile.

"You're scared." he said softly. Steve blinked, as did the others, and Toushiro laughed a bit, the bitterness not yet gone from his voice. He lifted his gaze.

"You're terrified of your own power." he murmured. Steve drew back, stiffening.

"No, I'm not." he said sternly, and Toushiro's head snapped up, a challenge sparkling in his green eyes. For a long minute, the two just stood there, staring at each other. But without any warning or fight, Toushiro gave in, a sarcastic sneer curling the edges of his lips up.

"Alright then, what do I know?" he said sardonically, allowing Steve's denial to stand. The Avengers and Matsumoto looked on, a bit startled by Hitsugaya's tone - which was almost mocking.

"Moving on. Has anyone been in contact with Fury recently?"

Steve frowned at Toushiro, but said nothing. The boy obviously had some idea of what he was going through, but as he'd said before, he wasn't scared of his power. Something else was bothering him - and perhaps if he found the right time, he'd let the boy know.

"Yes." the supersoldier said, putting the preteen's sarcastic reply behind him and moving on. "SHIELD and the Gotei have come to a definitive agreement that you'll be placed with me once we can figure out how to get you to America legally, but beyond that there hasn't been much headway. We've been considering planting you - briefly, I promise - in a Japanese orphanage of some kind, just to explain your appearance. But we can't figure out how to get you on SHIELD's radar properly. You can't just be seen popping in and out of the Triskelion..."

Natasha shrugged.

"Well, Tony's supposed to be giving him a crash course in computers and the Internet and smartphones next week. Maybe something will come up there." she said off-handedly. Toushiro raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing his face.

"Computers?" he asked quickly. "Like that tiny, compact machine you gave me to work with back on the Helicarrier?"

Natasha nodded slowly, beginning to realize something that had gone right over Steve and Matsumoto's heads. Across from her, Bruce's eyes widened in realization.

"...you've worked with computers before." she said briefly. "I remember that. You hacked into that software like it was nothing."

Toushiro shrugged.

"I've always been skilled with them. We have them in Soul Society, except they're much bigger." he said. "Much more powerful. Kurotsuchi has one the size of a room which can artificially create the Senkaimon - you know, the dimensional tear we shinigami use to come to the World of the Living. He also uses them to help manufacture gigai - the fake body I've been wearing for the last several days."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, as did Clint. And Bruce. And Steve. They all looked flabbergasted.

"Fake body?" she said faintly. Toushiro snorted derisively.

"Of course." he replied snappishly. "Most of the SHIELD agents have reiatsu too low to see ghosts, so all of the shinigami here are wearing fake bodies made of highly concentrated reishi particles. Mine is the latest model. Comes with complete reiatsu suppression and seals my Zanpakutou into a pocket dimension from which I can summon it instantly, also in a gigai so that humans can see it, and, as I'm sure you've noticed, it conceals my tattoos. Here, watch."

He reached into the pocket of the olive-green combat pants he'd taken to wearing around the base and pulled out what appeared to be a candy dispenser, popping a small, green bead into his mouth and swallowing. With a sound like lightning, Toushiro shot from the fake body, a flash of white pulsing energy connecting the two for a brief moment before dissipating.

Haori billowing about the sleek, dark grey of the bodysuit he wore, Hitsugaya reached back and brushed his fingers over the hilt of his Zanpakutou, welcoming the chilly bite of the sword's blade. His tattoo, gleaming in the opalescent-white coloring it took on when the six Stones were sleeping, shone above his left eyebrow, like normal. And in his fake body, the Mod Soul knelt next to him, jade gaze downcast in submission, a perfect copy of the shinigami standing over him.

The four Avengers stared in shock. Toushiro rolled his eyes, then with a brief, muttered incantation, reentered the fake body. The pill popped out of his mouth, and then he was back in the black t-shirt and combat pants he'd been dressed in earlier. With a yawn, he put the pill back in his pocket. His forehead was smooth again.

"So. Fake body." he said carelessly. "Most people - not you lot, you're all weird - can't see me in soul form. So I wear this. Easy enough to understand, right? It's like I'm wearing one of Tony's suits."

At that, comprehension dawned on the Avengers' faces, and Toushiro yawned again.

"Alright then." he said. "I'm going to sleep - I'll be useless otherwise. Steve, I trust you to hold down the fort. Don't let Matsumoto do anything stupid."

"Tai-i-cho!"

"Will do, son." Steve said, smiling, reaching out to ruffle the preteen's white hair. "Sleep well, okay?"

Toushiro smiled back wanly, for the first time not bothering to slap the older soldier's hand off.

"I'll try." he said. Then he turned and staggered tiredly away. Matsumoto and the others watched him go until the door slid shut behind him. Then Steve sighed and stretched.

"Natasha, Bruce, Clint, can you find Tony and Thor and have them meet us in Briefing Room 2? We really need to discuss how to get Toushiro into SHIELD without arousing anyone's suspicions."

The three nodded and scattered out of the training room's door. Steve turned to Matsumoto.

"Miss Rangiku, could you bring along a few of your people to this brainstorming session as well?" he asked politely, smiling at Toushiro's voluptuous lieutenant. The strawberry-blonde woman, her hair highlighted in orange by the overhead lights, threw the American captain a jaunty salute.

"Sir yes sir!" she teased cheerfully. Then her face turned serious, though her smile didn't fade. "And thank you, Steve-kun."

The supersoldier blinked in surprise.

"For what?" he asked the buxom woman, baffled. Matsumoto ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously.

"For being there for my taicho." she said, her tone warm. "You don't see it because you haven't known him for as long, but he's really very attached to you. I think you're one of the only people who's ever viewed him as a person first, warrior second."

That drew Steve up short.

"Surely there are others in Seireitei who can see that. What about his friends? The people he said that he found after his death?" he blurted, astonished. Matsumoto shook her head.

"Steve-kun." she murmured sadly. "I'm one of those three people, I think, but Hitsugaya-taicho is my captain. I can't ever scold him the way you can, or ruffle his hair, or generally treat him like the young man he is. I'm not allowed to do that, and we both know it. And his grandmother...the poor woman can barely be in his presence for more than a few days. He's too strong, and she's too weak."

Steve swallowed hard, suddenly very aware of how hard Toushiro's life was, of how lonely the poor child must be.

"...you said there was a third?" he prompted, and Matsumoto choked then, tears welling up in her eyes. She nodded.

"Yes." she whispered. "His sister, Hinamori. Oh gods, where do I start with that..."

She took a moment to compose herself, then sighed deeply and looked Steve straight in the eyes, her face solemn.

"Has...has Taicho told you about a man named Aizen?" she asked quietly. Steve slowly shook his head.

"I don't think so." he said, his tone curious. "Who's that?"

Matsumoto scowled darkly, the prickling ashen taste of her power whispering through the room, biting at Steve's exposed skin with malicious playfulness.

"A traitor who tried to destroy Soul Society." She said bluntly, bitterly. "He quite enjoyed playing mind games with my captain and Hinamori. He turned them against each other a few times, and his trickery ended up destroying the relationship those two had. Nearly killed them both in the process."

Steve went a shade paler than snow, and then, his voice trembling, he spoke again.

"Did...did he give Toushiro a scar?" the 40's superhero asked nervously, eyes wide. "Across his chest, shoulder and back?"

Matsumoto looked up, her blue gaze flattened by grief and anger.

"Yes." she said. "My captain nearly died that day. But that's why I'm thanking you. You're...out of every single soul he's known, you're the only one who really can understand him - the only person who's willing to let him be the younger brother, rather than the elder. You're the only person who won't be affected by Seireitei and its violence or tedium. To my captain...you really are the elder brother he's never had. That's why you were able to convince him to stand down. That's why you were able to make him forget his pride, even if only for a moment."

Steve felt his face softening, but deep inside him something went very rigid as well, a sort of determination hardening his heart's outer shell. He smiled a fraction, a sort of melancholy realization touching him on the forehead.

" _I'm his Bucky."_ Steve understood then. " _His support."_

He looked at Matsumoto with a new type of strength shining in his face, the smile curling his lips both gentle and fierce at the same time.

"No need to thank me, Miss Rangiku. As I said on Asgard, brothers don't hurt each other." he said firmly. "And I'll hold myself to that promise."

He saluted, leaving a starstruck woman in Matsumoto's place, then took his leave. And in the air trailing behind him was a cloak of brilliant silver-blue light that felt like a crushing embrace and smelled of that peculiar crispness that hung in the air after a heavy rain. Matsumoto wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the unusual crackling in the air dissipate slowly as Steve's reiatsu faded away.

And then she realized what had happened, and she laughed aloud.

"And to think..." she murmured to herself. "That the mere thought of my captain was enough to draw out his reiatsu when nothing else could."

* * *

Please review, and tell me what you think!

~avtorSola


	9. Matsumoto vs Rogers, and Dark Powers

**A/N:** I know it's short. I'm having issues with essays, math, and friggin' military history crap. But anyhow, enjoy.

* * *

"No, that's not going to work either."

Steve wanted to bang his head against his desk in frustration, but instead settled for running his fingers through his hair. He shot a glance at Fury, then at Thor and Matsumoto, blue eyes narrow.

"We need to get him into SHIELD." Fury said firmly. "But it has to be legal. If we're sneaking him around, people will suspect something. However, because of how young he appears to be, he's going to be listed as a non-combatant...hopefully he won't take too much issue with that."

Steve looked directly at the SHIELD Director, gaze even, his face flat.

"He understands his position, sir." he said, tone empty. "But I request that I be allowed to inform him of any and all changes to his current restrictions. I'm probably the best suited to defuse his temper."

Thor spoke up then, his voice measured.

"Steven, I speak now as one friend to another." the Asgardian prince said calmly, though a sense of urgency was in his face. "If young Toushiro loses control, you will not be able to keep him contained. He does not mean to harm others, but the Infinity Stones are extremely volatile. As the Kismet Stone's power grows within him, he will grow stronger at an exponential pace. He may even be a danger to himself. If he happens to lose control at any point in time, you _must_ be able to attack him. You _must_ be willing to put him in the hospital to stop him. Can you do that?"

Steve's lips pressed together, his brow furrowing, a flash of mixed anger and distress passing across his face. Matsumoto and her Eighth Seat, Nagasawa Kenta, looked down, sighing regretfully, both fully aware of their duty to the Seireitei.

"...I..." he mumbled softly. "No. I can't."

Thor frowned, the same concoction of bitter despair flickering over his face. His wheat-gold hair shimmered faintly in the fluorescent light. Tony cleared his throat quietly.

"Okay, let's get real, people." he said. "We all know that we wouldn't be able to hurt that kid if we tried. Capsicle, it's not just you. I wouldn't be able to attack him either. I don't think anyone would be able to."

Matsumoto cleared her throat.

"We would." she spoke up then, her heart heavy. "I'd kill him myself if it came down to it. Anyone in the Tenth Division would do the same. If Taicho really does lose himself and cannot regain control, call upon Seireitei. He is one of our captains, so we will deal with him."

Fury glanced at Matsumoto, somewhat astonished.

"You would kill your own captain?" he asked, incredulous. Matsumoto's blue eyes stayed fixed on the table for a moment, her face dripping sorrow, before she raised her eyes and spoke.

"Hitsugaya-taicho will understand." she said, her voice breaking. "He'll know what I'm doing the second my blade pierces him. And he'll be grateful for it - grateful that I chose to save him from himself. He'd want me to do that. He'd want me to be the one to take his life, should it come to that."

She turned her face away, but a crystalline drop of saltwater sat on the glass table, a bead of pearlescent sorrow.

"Besides." she said quietly. "I won't force Steve to do something so terrible. I'm Hitsugaya-taicho's lieutenant. It's my duty to protect his honor at all costs. If that means ending him...I must do it."

Steve nearly knocked over the table, he stood up so fast. His face was steely, fists clenched tightly at his sides. His reiatsu rose unconsciously, pressing against everyone in the room with vehement force. The Avengers looked on, their expressions similarly appalled.

"No!" he spat. "No, you _won't_. You are one of the few people that poor boy has been able to rely on. You _will not_ hurt him."

Matsumoto's expression became sharp, a snarling glint coming to haunt the lashes of her eyes, a vicious growl unspoken on her tongue.

"You think I'd want to do that?" she said tartly. "You really think I'd want to kill my own captain? That's every lieutenant's worst nightmare, and I'm no different. But that's why it has to be me. My captain is my responsibility, and Hitsugaya-taicho understands that."

Without a word, the supersoldier sat down, his movements slow and almost purposefully drawn out. It was obvious that he was upset by Matsumoto's gloomy acceptance of her duty to her captain's honor, and the distressed eddying of the currents of his Spiritual Pressure revealed what his face did not - his anger. Nicholas Fury gazed at the 40's hero with a certain sort of compassion in his eyes.

"He's not your man, Captain Rogers." he said, his tone unusually soft. "He never was."

Steve's face was still cast in his calm shadow, but his arms were shaking slightly. All around the table, the two shinigami present could feel the angered glares of the Avengers on them, burning holes in their faces. Even Natasha was incensed. Fury glanced between the two sides of the room, a little uneasy with the amount of tension permeating the air. He cleared his throat.

"Alright, that's enough." he snapped. "Back to work, people. Commander Hitsugaya needs some way to get into SHIELD without arousing suspicion."

Slowly the glares subsided, the awful quiet broken by Tony's subtle mutter of displeasure.

"I still think the kid could live with me." he said, sullen. "I have plenty of ways to hack through SHIELD's security - and don't get pissed, Fury, you were one using the Tesseract to make weapons."

Steve rolled his eyes. It was a bad habit of Natasha's that he'd picked up.

"Tony, you'd end up turning the poor boy into a lab rat." he said patiently. "And I like New York City when it's NOT buried in snow. Besides, it would probably be difficult for you to drink frozen vodka, or whatever it is that you steal from Tasha."

Tony appeared to think that over, and while he was contemplating just how awful it would be if his alcohol was frozen, Steve was busy kicking Natasha under the table. She looked about ready to strangle the billionaire.

"My...vodka." she hissed, and Steve nodded soothingly.

"You can kill him after this." he told her softly. "Just wait until after this meeting is over."

Clint exchanged a long glance with the supersoldier when the Russian woman kept her stare on the genius man, nostrils flaring in anger, but both breathed a sigh of relief when she tried to calm herself enough to remain functional. Tony blinked, sulking then.

"Alright..." he pouted. "But at least promise me that he can come and visit sometimes, okay? Outside of our Avenger-parties. Please?"

Steve stared at the billionaire for a minute, then sighed.

"You do realize that we're still unsure of how to incorporate him into SHIELD, right?" he said dryly. "We might not be able to allow him to see you without breaking his cover."

Tony muttered something uncomplimentary about "spangly-suited capsicles" before speaking again. He still looked sulky.

"Remind me why the kid is supposed to be undercover again?" he whined. "I mean, besides for our personal amusement?"

"Dvaoudar." Thor interjected softly, and the name caused everyone in the room to stiffen, prickles of dread creeping down their spines. The Asgardian looked up, visibly pale.

"The Enemy who took my father's eye...and the being so powerful that he nearly slayed Commander Yamamoto."

Matsumoto's face slowly went white, and the Avengers blinked in shock. Clint swallowed.

"Thor, you said that Odin thought Dvaoudar was unaware of Toushiro's existence." he stammered uncomfortably. Thor nodded slowly.

"Yes." he confirmed. "He does not know that Toushiro is on Earth. He did not know that Commander Yamamoto and my father dissolved the Kismet Stone's power into the souls of shinigami. However...he has begun to move in ways that suggest he suspects Asgard. That he suspects the shinigami. And he wields immense power, leftover from his brief tenure in charge of the Infinity Gauntlet - long before his intentions to destroy the universe were revealed."

Thor gazed at Tony, worry written all across his face, etched into the deepening lines about his brow.

"As far as I have been made aware, the Enemy is telekinetic and is extremely adept at poisoning others' minds, turning and twisting them to his will. He calls out to the darkness in another's heart and uses it against them. That is why Toushiro must remain hidden. If Dvaoudar gains allies on Earth and Asgard, he must be able to overlook our young friend with ease."

Fury blinked, then lowered his head a bit, as did Natasha.

"...you didn't mention Soul Society." he noted calmly. "Am I to understand that the Soul Reaper folk are immune to his power?"

Thor nodded briefly, his face tight.

"From what my father has told me, shinigami are remarkably resistant to his whispers. It takes a true potential for evil to turn any one shinigami to his side."

Matsumoto breathed a sigh of relief, as did most everyone else in the room.

"Whew." she groaned. "I really wasn't looking forward to having to watch my taicho's back in Seireitei too..."

Steve coughed a bit, distracting the pretty lieutenant from her train of thought.

"But we still don't have a definitive plan to work Toushiro into SHIELD." he reminded everyone. "We've already decided against using the Infinity Stones, yes? Too risky?"

Both Thor and Fury nodded, and Matsumoto shrugged her consent as well. Steve groaned.

"Then we've hit a wall." he said. "Unless Toushiro's knack for computers pays off after Tony shows him the ropes, we don't have any way to get him into SHIELD."

The billionaire suddenly looked very anxious and guilty, and he looked at the ceiling in something like embarrassment. He muttered something under his breath.

Fury gave him a look.

"Speak up, Stark." he huffed, annoyed. "What did you say?"

The genius went a little pink.

"On the Helicarrier, I didn't recognize the programming language he was using. And when I went back to look at the code, the server he'd remote-accessed had been encrypted and coded to release a virus when it was tampered with." he said finally, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "So unless the Soul Society doesn't use normal computers, which I doubt, given that the language was compatible with the laptop...then he was simultaneously encrypting the address for the Soul Society's servers, connecting the laptop to their server, and writing a virus that nearly took out all of JARVIS's memory files. At once."

For a second the room was utterly silent, and then Natasha exploded.

"All that and yet he doesn't understand how to work a toaster?"

* * *

I know these have been relatively plot-less recently. I promise I'll pick up the pace shortly - it just seems like there's so much setting up that I still need to do... *sigh*

Please Review...

~avtorSola


	10. Concerning Two Sisters

**A/N:** Pay Attention! Major Plot Points entered! And yeah, I know it's late. :( I apologize

* * *

Tony went to work with Toushiro immediately, teaching him everything he possibly could about computer software and the myriad of loopholes and gaps in standard firewalls. Within the space of ten hours, the two were trading viruses and hacks back and forth on a pair of laptops, each attempting to write up protective software and tear down the opponent's cyber-defenses simultaneously.

"Take that, you stupid brat!" Tony was almost frothing at the mouth. Even the version of JARVIS that he'd downloaded onto the cheap laptop as extra protection wasn't doing him much good. Toushiro's fingers flew across the keyboard, his face still as calm as ever, yet without missing a beat he tapped another key and sent the most recent virus through the widening hole in the billionaire's security system.

The cry of frustration would have been heard for miles had Natasha not chosen that exact second to throw a pillow at Tony's face, still leaning against Steve's shoulder. Her aim was stellar, and while the billionaire briefly choked on the fabric, Toushiro shattered the last of JARVIS's defenses.

"I win." Toushiro said smugly, casually downloading the "prize content" onto his laptop and decoding it with remarkable ease. Tony pulled the pillow from where it smothered his stubble and glared.

"Lucky." he accused, still pouting. Toushiro rolled his eyes.

"It took me two hours to completely disable JARVIS's security systems even with you as an active defense, Tony." the boy said smugly, leaning back against the couch cushions. "Face it; you can't decode my encrypted files, and I'm better at finding algorithmic gaps in the programming. I won."

"Only because Natasha helped you!"

"Because you were acting like an idiot."

"I was not!"

Toushiro rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to retort when Steve cut in, his voice unusually cheerful.

"Play nice, you two." he said, looking up from his copy of _The Lord of the Rings_. "Commander Hitsugaya has two human recruits coming in today, remember? We have to be on our best behavior."

Toushiro snorted.

"Steve, don't talk to me like I'm six." he said loftily. "Tony's the one with the mentality of a toddler. I wasn't the one being a sore loser."

The supersoldier grinned at the preteen captain, his blue eyes twinkling, and gave Tony a sly, amused look. Toushiro's slow transition from a stern shinigami to the sarcastic young man he was now had been interesting, but now that he was perfectly comfortable with the Avengers' constant banter, he'd chosen Tony as his most frequent target.

"Listen to your big brother, Toushiro-kun." Natasha interjected then, and Toushiro shot her an irritated glance.

"Oi, I'm the oldest one here." he snapped cheekily. Then he thought for a second, and a mischievous grin spread across his smooth face. "Imouto-chan."

Natasha eyes widened in surprise, and she sat up straight, her gaze fixed on the smirking preteen before her. For a moment she struggled to come up with a comeback. Steve watched for a moment, smiling, then decided to come to Natasha's rescue.

"Yet you're still the one that baits Tony the most." he said mildly. "That makes you the least mature out of all of us."

Toushiro's face darkened, eyes narrowing, and Steve held up a hand in a gesture of peace.

"It's a good thing, son." he said gently. During the weeks that the Avengers had been based from the SRD's facility, Steve had gradually learned that the best way to work around Hitsugaya's dislike of being compared to a child was to immediately compliment his captaincy afterwards. Thankfully the boy hadn't caught on to the tactic yet.

"You're learning to let your guard down around us. Doesn't mean that you can't be terrifying, though. How do your men put up with you?" Steve continued, smiling again.

Hitsugaya's body relaxed a bit, the hard, lean muscle softening slightly under the black t-shirt and olive green cargo pants, and a smirk curled his lips again. He'd been training with his contingent of shinigami troops yesterday, performing a series of kata, and his pace had been ruthless. Steve had been tired just watching them.

Toushiro batted a loose lock of white hair out of his eyes.

"I pay them." he said smugly. "And train them. And sometimes even save their lives. Eventually they learn to like me, once they get over the initial bout of _oh-goddammit-we-got-stuck-with-the-prodigy_."

The three Avengers in the room chuckled a bit at the notes of sarcasm present in Hitsugaya's young tenor. Then Tony stood up and went over to the preteen's long white desk, peering at the computer screens thoughtfully. The group was in Toushiro's office, waiting for the two new arrivals to arrive in the private plane that Fury had given them. Clint was out on a mission somewhere, but he'd be back in a day or so, Thor was in Asgard, and Bruce was training with Hirako Shinji almost non-stop. So the four Avengers present were the only ones "off duty" in the SRD's base.

Well, the Division Ten shinigami were living there too, but they were busy doing their paperwork and running off on missions to test the growing numbers of spiritually aware humans in New York.

Suddenly, the rightmost of Toushiro's computers made an odd beeping noise, and without warning an uploading box popped up onscreen, the thin white bar marking the percentage of uploaded material slowly turning blue. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Where's that coming from?" he asked, a bit confused by the sudden upload. Toushiro said nothing for a long moment, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. Then he spoke, his voice a little choppy.

"Me." he mumbled. The tattoo on his head began to glow blue, and thin wisps of cerulean light peeled away from the boy's temples and drifted into the computer screen. Natasha and Steve nearly choked at the sight, and Tony just scowled.

"Hey, no fair!" he complained. He understood immediately what the preteen was doing. "I've been trying for _ages_ to make an artificial intelligence capable of relatively human thought, and you just get to upload one into your security system!"

Hitsugaya's lips split in a nasty grin, though he kept his eyes closed.

"I had to write the programming to...give her consciousness a digital support, Tony." he said. His fingers twitched, and he frowned. "It wasn't...easy."

Steve stood up and came over to where the young commander sat in his chair, placing a hand on the preteen's shoulder.

"You okay, kiddo?" he asked. Toushiro grunted. Slowly, the upload bar onscreen filled up to 50%.

"...I'm glitching...a bit." he admitted. "Tony...could you change the parameters? For Tessa-chan's...holographic display?"

Tony nodded and after Toushiro gave a vocal override to the fingerprint sensitive touchscreens, fixed the parameters. Toushiro noticeably relaxed, and the stream of blue curling from his temples brightened in intensity. Without warning, the upload bar jumped up to 100%, and suddenly the blue light dimmed, the Tesseract's power once again going dormant. The young SRD commander sat upright, glancing at the computer screens, then gently tapped in a short code.

"Alright, Tessa, you're online." he said. "Give me a signal."

For a moment, everything was quiet, and then the loudspeakers in the wall crackled to life.

 _~"Hitsugaya-nii-tama, I'm in the system!"~_

Toushiro's face went a bit dark.

"Oi, cut the baby-talk, Tessa. You're a big girl now." he scolded. A giggle came from over the speakers set in the wall. Tony, Steve, and Natasha stared in shock. Toushiro had been living with _six_ of these in his head?

 _~"Ehhh, you're so dull, Nii-sama."~_ Tessa complained. Toushiro sighed.

"Alright, Tessa, that's enough." he said sternly. "I need you to make sure you can remote-access and defend all the computer terminals with access to even a part of the SRD's data files."

 _~"Easy-peasy, Nii-sama! I'll set up the flex-field around our files and enable virus and malware detection. It's my job to freeze all the unauthorized accesses to our server, yes?"~_

Tentatively, Steve interjected, glancing at Toushiro for permission almost before he addressed the Space Stone directly.

"Excuse me, miss, but...are you going to be the SRD's security system?"

The AI was silent for a moment, and then she spoke again, her voice cheerful.

 _~"Yeah, pretty much! Hitsugaya-nii-sama found a way to upload part of my consciousness onto the SRD's databases. I'll be in charge of letting you human-people-men-women-beings access information. Hitsugaya-nii-sama gave me a series of protocols to follow, but he said that if Matsumoto-fukutaicho-san, Steve-nii-chan, Natasha-nee-chan, Thor-san, Bruce-san, Clint-san, or Tony-baka need to get on in an emergency, then I have to help you immediately. I'm Tessa, by the way. Nice to meet you!"~_

Steve and Natasha blinked in surprise, then looked askance at Toushiro, whose cheeks had gone a little bit pink.

"Nee-chan?" Natasha said warmly, smiling despite herself. "I thought I was imouto-chan?"

Hitsugaya's face flushed a bit pinker, and Tessa took the opportunity to speak.

 _~"Hitsugaya-nii-sama always thinks of Natasha-nee-chan and Steve-nii-chan like that."~_ She said in her by-now-trademark cheery way. _~"He told me that they were nice people, and that if they ever got into an argument with Tony-baka, then I was supposed to listen to them because they aren't stupid idiots."~_

Steve and Natasha started laughing as Tony spluttered, suddenly realizing that the nickname "Tony-baka" was directed at him, but Hitsugaya's face remained a delicate shade of rose, colored by embarrassment. He'd somewhat forgotten that Tessa was still in constant contact with his mind, and now that she had the means to vocalize her thoughts, she could reveal a great deal of what he felt.

" _Tessa-chan...do you mind?"_ he asked her quietly, their telepathic connection waxing strong. Blue flickered against the thrumming rainbow of color in his mind's eye.

" _Hitsugaya-nii-sama, what should I mind?"_ she asked curiously. " _You told me that being honest was always the best thing to do."_

Toushiro sighed mentally, gaze flicking to the ground. Despite all the progress that the six had made, they still were a bit fuzzy on the concept of discretion and similar things.

" _Others' feelings are private, Tessa."_ he remonstrated gently. " _I prefer to keep my emotions to myself. It's perfectly fine for people to share their emotions, but not everyone likes doing that. I'm one of those people."_

Tessa gave a mental shrug.

" _It makes the human-people-men-women-persons happy."_ she said in her naive way. " _Their dopamine levels elevate. I don't understand why it matters so much to you, Nii-sama. You make them happy by thinking about them that way."_

Toushiro sighed, feeling Hyourinmaru's rumble of agreement in the back on his head. The other Stones listened curiously.

" _I know."_ he replied despondently. " _But old habits are hard to break, and I do have a reputation that I need to uphold. Could you please respect what I want, Tessa-chan? I'll talk about myself when I'm ready. It has to be a decision that_ **I** _make."_

" _...okay, Nii-sama."_ Tessa said, the cheer in her voice going down a notch. She understood a little better now, but she still didn't quite get it. Neither did the other Stones. But that was okay with them - they knew that their host was a very complex person, and they knew that understanding him would take a long time.

"Why the hell am I the only 'baka' in that group?" Tony pouted, glaring at Steve and Natasha as they laughed. Toushiro blinked owlishly up at him, jade gaze completely innocent.

"Because you're the only one stupid enough to provoke me, Tony." he said evenly. "I _can_ freeze you, you know. Or hack your bank accounts. It would also be fun to sell  your Social Security number...and you can't retaliate, because I'm already _dead_."

Tony shrugged, a wicked smirk curling his lips.

"Actually, that means I can retaliate in the worst way possible." he countered. "I can die. And then you'll be stuck with me forever."

Toushiro blanched at the thought, eliciting howls of laughter from Natasha and a soft chuckle from Steve.

 _~"Tony-baka, you can't die yet!"~_ Tessa pouted over the intercom. Tony patted one of the nearby computers.

"Don't worry, Tessa-girl." he said pompously, shooting a smug grin at the young shinigami. "It's a last resort sorta thing."

"Thank god." Toushiro muttered under his breath, a little bit dazed by the thought. A mild whiplash of golden power drifted through the room, toying with everyone's hair and lifting a few loose pillows into the air before the boy calmed himself and capped over his telekinetic power. Toushiro frowned at the sight, his lips curling down. Then he strode over to the door and pressed his palm to the scanner.

"Where are you going, son?" Steve asked. Toushiro glanced back over his shoulder.

"Training." he said offhandedly. "You three want to come?"

Natasha and Steve exchanged sidelong looks and nodded simultaneously, but Tony shook his head.

"Nah." he said. "I have to get back to Pepper anyway. She's been pestering me recently about my latest project. It's kinda been lying around the house."

Toushiro's forehead tattoo suddenly glowed blue, and he extended an arm to the billionaire.

"Want me to take you there?" he asked. "It's your place in New York, right?"

Tony's eyes gleamed that dangerous, mad-scientist gleam at the sight of the Space Stone's blue energy swirling about the young man's fingertips, and without hesitation he took the boy's arm. Toushiro shot a grin at Steve and Natasha, wicked pleasure ablaze in his jade glare. Both spy and supersoldier flinched at the sight.

"I'll meet you in the big training room." he said pleasantly, azure energy flickering from his slender frame and beginning to spiral about the SRD commander and the completely hapless man at his side. "If the new recruits come in while I'm out, let them know that I'll return shortly."

Natasha saluted jauntily.

"Will do, Commander." she teased gently. "Safe travels."

Toushiro's grin became noticeably vicious, but just as Tony was about to voice his objections, the Tesseract's space-bending powers activated, and a portal opened around the two for a split second before sucking them in and closing with a brilliant blue flash. Steve and Natasha exchanged long looks, then headed out of Toushiro's office and went down to the main training room. Several shinigami were in there already, including Shinji, though Bruce was noticeably absent.

Shinji came over to them with his horse-like teeth set in a eerie grin, his blond bob of hair hanging loose about his ears. He was wearing a brown cap and pressed brown slacks, a short-sleeve white button-down and red tie completing his schoolboy appearance. Steve nodded politely to him, and Shinji laughed.

"No need to be so polite, Cap'n." he drawled in his usual sarcastic fashion. "We're all friends here, right?"

Natasha sighed.

"Alright, Hirako-taicho, what do you want?" she asked flatly. "You never talk to anyone like this unless you want something."

Shinji pretended to be offended for a moment, but neither Natasha nor Steve bought the act, so he groaned, cracked his neck, and asked.

"Where's the kid-captain?" he asked offhandedly. "Thought I sensed him with you."

Steve paused, thought for a moment.

"He'll be here any second." the supersoldier replied calmly. "...He went to drop off Tony at the Stark Tower."

Just then, blue energy began to spiral out from a single point which hovered a few feet above the tiled floor. Steve smiled.

"There he is now."

With a sharp snap of roiling blue, Toushiro materialized in midair, gasping for breath, his face twisted by laughter. With a choked crackle of mirth, he spilled out onto the ground, his vicious laugh echoing. Natasha leaned forward eagerly.

"What did you do to him? She asked, fascinated. Toushiro couldn't stop cracking up.

"I...I missed the Tower." he choked out. "I accidentally sent him skydiving a foot away from the edge. He screams like a little girl. I caught him of course...but it was funny to watch him fall for a little bit."

Natasha burst into full-bodied laughter and offered her hand to the young commander.

"Oh, Commander Hitsugaya, you're a man after my own heart." she said in her usual mocking way, though the mirth she felt was clearly very genuine. "Next time you scare the shit out of someone, invite me please."

Toushiro accepted the hand with wicked smirk and let the tall woman pull him to his feet, still chuckling helplessly.

"Will do, Agent Romanoff." he said graciously. Hirako cleared his throat.

"Hey, Hitsu-kun." he said in his curiously sly manner, the glint of his eyes narrowing. "Got a question for you."

Toushiro's good mood vanished in a flicker of icy white-blue, his reiatsu leaking strong and cold from the slender muscle packed tightly throughout his body.

"It's Hitsugaya-soutaicho to you, Hirako-taicho." he snapped, watching as the Vizard captain's eyes widened in shock, and huffed irritably.

"Of the SRD, idiot." he said, cutting into the words surely forming on the elder captain's lips. "I have dual rank - here I'm soutaicho, there I'm taicho. Not that difficult a concept to grasp, I'm sure."

Shinji's smile thinned to a sneer, his teeth disappearing behind pale skin.

"Sharp a tongue as ever, ne, Hitsugaya-taicho?" he said sourly, glaring at the young man before him, eyes keen and predatory as ever. His Hollow side had tainted his personality a bit, and Toushiro felt the gossamer prickle of apprehension cool the fire everpresent in his blood. The younger captain's face turned to ice.

"It isn't my tongue that you have to watch, Hirako-taicho." he said softly, his breath misting out in puffs. "It's my teeth - my bite is worse than my bark. But you knew that already...didn't you?"

The Vizard captain gave the young man before him a considering glance, both shinigami ignoring the sudden outbursts of protest that had erupted from Steve and Natasha at the thinly-veiled threat in Toushiro's words. Then the Vizard grinned his eerie grin again, sly eyes watching.

"True, Hitsugaya-taicho." he agreed then, approval flashing somewhere in the poisoned dark of his Hollowed soul. "Now, I think I had a question for ya."

The brief contest of will had faded - the Fifth Division Captain had bowed his head in submission - and both captains understood the sway of power that had just taken place. Hitsugaya's position was politically fearsome now, especially given his entry into Yamamoto's coalition, and Hirako wanted in. It was an understandable allegiance.

"Fire away." Toushiro commented lightly, making a shushing motion at Steve with his hand, his green stare somewhat chiding. He couldn't expect the man to understand the subtleties of Seireitei's den-of-wolves culture yet, but it _was_ his compound, and here he was supreme. Steve went quiet with a confused look at Natasha, sensing perhaps the icy reprimand in his foster brother's reiatsu, and followed after the pint-sized warrior as they walked casually towards the target range which he'd been recently using to hone his aim with his telekinesis.

Shinji sighed.

"Can Hinamori-fukutaicho come here and work with you?" he asked gently, well-aware of the reaction such a question would produce. And the the effect was immediate. Hitsugaya froze up, causing Steve to run into him from behind and stumble back - the collision hadn't moved the boy at all. A faint sheen of frost swirled down the gigai Toushiro wore.

"...why are you asking me this?" Toushiro demanded suddenly, jade glare wide in helpless anger and grief. "You _know_ what happened between us. You _know_ that we destabilize each other."

"I know." Shinji said, his tone somewhat bitter. "And look, I'm well aware how much I'm asking you to sacrifice here...but Soul Society is getting to be too much for her. Everyone talks about Aizen behind her back, and she knows that, and she hates it. You know how much the bastard meant to her, and despite all that he did...she can't help it. You're the only person she has left. She still cries over your almost-death, you know."

Toushiro let out a long breath, fisting one pale little hand in his white hair. Steve and Natasha blinked at the boy, worried by his sudden angst. He seemed almost paralyzed with indecision. A pale gust of cold arctic air flowed from the young captain's svelte frame, and with a soundless yell of anger a familiar blade materialized in his hand and swept up. The Reality Stone's scarlet energy flashed from the sword's keen edge and hit a faraway target on the other side of the room, vaporizing it instantly.

Everything went still, and Toushiro let his Zanpakutou-gigai fade gently from his fingertips.

"Alright." he said finally, shoulders sagging. "She...she can come. I'll ask Matsumoto to show her the ropes."

Shinji nodded, then reached out and clasped the boy's shoulder for a long moment, the grateful, submissive wolf in his gaze almost apologetic in its lack of ferocity.

"Thank you." he murmured. "You have no idea what this will do for her."

Toushiro laughed hollowly. He knew better than most.

"It will tear her apart inside, Hirako-taicho." he warned, his voice taut. "She expects me to feel the same way about Aizen, yet I can't even look her in the face without...without going back to that moment. Every time she tells me that she doesn't blame me for it, it drives the knife a little bit deeper, because I know that she doesn't blame Aizen for it either, but then..."

Steve and Natasha listened with growing confusion as Toushiro spoke, when suddenly, Steve remembered a conversation he'd once had with Matsumoto.

 _His sister, Hinamori. Oh gods, where do I start with that...has Taicho told you about a man named Aizen?...He quite enjoyed playing mind games with my captain and Hinamori. He turned them against each other a few times, and his trickery ended up destroying the relationship those two had. Nearly killed them both in the process..._

Hinamori. No wonder the young man was so upset.

"But then you feel like if it isn't Aizen's fault, it has to be yours." Shinji finished bluntly, startling the two Avengers present. Toushiro quailed in the face of that assertion.

"It _was_ my fault." he said tiredly, irately, the hollow of his voice ringing. Without thinking he sliced a hand through the air, gold trailing his fingertips, and several lumps of smooth, dense metal shot into the air and through another of the targets. "I let myself be overcome."

Shinji shot the young captain a sidelong glance, but said nothing for a long moment. He frowned then.

"You need this just as much as she does." he stated finally. Hitsugaya looked up, confused, and Shinji continued, his voice growing more severe, more stern. "You both need to learn that whatever bond you shared...it's gone. You grew up differently - that much is obvious just by watching you - but neither of you realize it, and you're still stupidly trying to remain in each others' lives when it only hurts you more in the end!"

Toushiro's temper flared.

"Don't talk about us like you know us!" the white-haired boy snapped. Shinji snarled.

"I _do_ know you! I know you just by **looking** at you!" he spat. "You're a child prodigy with a dark past and a rough life. You've been through hell and back trying to claw your way into the spectrum of _mattering_ and it's made you harsh. It's made you cold. It's made you cruel. Hinamori, on the other hand, doesn't have **any** of that. She's been treated well. For most of her time in Seireitei she's been a cut above the rest, special in her own way, powerful yet still weak enough to bend to another's will. She's NOT harsh. She's NOT cold. She's NOT cruel. And she doesn't have a  clue why you are any of those things. So now, for the first time in her life, she's become nothing to a man that mattered to her, and she can't see why you aren't shocked about it the way she still is! And you, for all your intelligence, can't understand why she can still care about a man that nearly killed the both of you!"

Suddenly the light pouring through the windows darkened from gold to grey, and thunder crackled in the air outside the building Steve and Natasha looked on, frightened despite themselves. Toushiro's teeth were bared, canines looking unnaturally pointed, and without warning a corona of white light - brilliant, shining - surrounded him. He didn't appear to notice.

"Be _SILENT_!" Toushiro roared, and without warning the world around him seemed to flicker and fade, unsure of itself, ringed in radiant white light. Everyone watched in shock, utterly silent as the Kismet's power raged in anger. And Shinji complied, staring, bewildered and terrified by the thought of all the destruction the boy could now unleash. For Toushiro's white power ran wild now, awake as nothing else had been, uncontrollable and dangerous.

Steve found himself moving without thinking, reaching wordlessly, fearlessly for the shield at his back, the rising tide of Toushiro's power stirring some protective instinct in him. He understood now, what Matsumoto and Thor had meant when they'd discussed attacking the young shinigami earlier. With pure, unadulterated energy like that running amok, the young man could accidentally kill himself with terrifying ease. And so he yelled, his voice strong, and thrust the shield forward, silver-blue wind concussing the air around him, his reiatsu spinning.

"Wind Bullet!" he shouted, unconscious of the words leaving his lips. The front of his shield lit up like a beacon, and a concentrated balloon of wind rocketed forward. It struck the young shinigami head on, throwing him into the nearby wall, the white power of the Stone in his blood unable to coalesce into an adequate defense without the benefit of a controller. Toushiro's white head struck the stone wall hard, a sharp crack echoing in the room, and slid down, crumpling to the tile floor like a puppet with its strings cut. The Kismet's power faded when the boy crashed into unconsciousness, leaving the world safe again from its devastating potential.

And for a moment, everything was so completely silent that one could hear a pin drop. Toushiro lay in a small, slumped pile on the floor, eyes closed, his face slack, a thin trickle of blood dripping down the side of his face from a cut just beneath his hairline. Then, with a loud crash, Steve dropped his shield and ran to the young man's side, gently sliding a hand beneath the boy's shoulders and knees and lifting him in his arms. A soft groan escaped the preteen captain, but he did not wake.

Natasha swallowed hard.

"Steve..." she began, then faltered, well aware how horrified of his own actions the warm-hearted soldier must be. The supersoldier looked up at her.

"I knocked him out. I used my reiryoku to knock him out." he said without preamble, eyes wide in shock. "He's concussed at the most. Miss Rangiku said that the stronger the shinigami, the less likely they are to take damage..."

He knew he was rambling, trying to justify his actions to himself, but when half of the shinigami in the building raced into the training room, accompanied by Thor, Bruce, and Clint, he found himself tongue-tied. He'd attacked _Toushiro_. The boy who'd literally died (for three minutes) to save them.

Sudden terror overwhelmed him, reiatsu flaring wildly in response. For a split second he could feel the wind of his reiryoku on his face at high speed, cold and sharp, the snow blowing everywhere, and all he could see was Bucky's terrified face as he fell...then he shook himself, blocking out the memory. It wasn't World War Two anymore, and he wasn't on that windswept train, watching his best friend plummet to his death.

Thankfully, nobody seemed to notice his brief bout of panic, and Shinji nodded at the supersoldier, drawing attention away from the shell-shocked man for a moment and drawing it to himself.

"Kismet." he stammered out. The Avengers and Matsumoto froze. "Steve...Steve cracked Hitsugaya's head against the wall...if he hadn't, we'd all be toast."

Matsumoto put a hand to her head, running her fingers through cropped, strawberry-blonde locks. She let out a long breath.

"How is he, Steve-kun?" she asked gesturing at her captain. She seemed to have recovered in the brief stillness. "I felt your reiatsu flare. You used it against him?"

Steve nodded numbly, clutching his young friend and not-blood brother to his chest just a little more securely. He wouldn't let go this time.

" _I'm with you to the end of the line."_ he vowed silently, watching as Toushiro twitched a bit then, sluggishly pulling himself back to the waking world, bleary-eyed. Matsumoto smiled, the expression faint.

"Well done, Steve-kun." She congratulated him, impressed that he'd managed to draw out his reluctant powers. Then her expression changed a bit.

"You were scared he'd do something he'd regret?" she asked quietly. Steve shook his head, swallowed uncomfortably, and hardened his resolve just a little more.

"I didn't want him to hurt himself somehow." he said. Then he glanced at Shinji, his face tightening a bit.

"And you." he said sternly, a slight threat in his tone. The Vizard blinked in surprise at such a direct address and tensed. The whirl of Steve's gusting reiatsu was intimidating, even though he was clearly weaker than the Fifth Division Captain. Steve frowned, watching as the ghost child he carried in his arms blinked fuzzily, trying to focus.

"If you ever upset my brother like that again, I'll be the one you have to deal with." he said flatly, silvery-sky-blue light illuminating his face for a moment. "I don't know why it upset him so much, and frankly, I don't care. You overstepped your bounds talking about his sister like that."

Shinji blinked, then turned to Matsumoto.

"Sister?" he asked. The lieutenant scowled but nodded, understanding now why Toushiro had reacted the way that he did.

"He and Hinamori grew up together." she said, her tone clipped. "He did everything he could to make sure that she stayed safe and happy, even agreeing to stay behind in the Rukongai to take care of their grandmother despite the fact that his reiatsu dwarfed hers even then by a massive margin. Hitsugaya-taicho knows Hinamori-chan better than you ever will."

Without saying anything, the Avengers and the shinigami of the Tenth Division solidified into one mass, one single entity. The Soul Reaper Division. And they stood behind their Commander. Even Bruce stood with them, despite all his experience training with Shinji.

"Alright, fine." the horse-toothed man said petulantly, scowling. For a moment, he and Steve had a staring contest of epic proportion. Toushiro chose that moment to regain full coherence, however, shattering the tension.

"...Steve?" He muttered, rubbing at one of his temples with his free hand. He winced. "My head..."

Steve adjusted his grip on the blinking preteen, turning gently towards the door.

"Yeah, sorry about that, kiddo." he said guiltily. "You lost control of one of the Stones and...I just acted."

Toushiro groaned as light penetrated his skull like a nail through cotton and buried his face in Steve's shirt.

"...S'ok. Glad you stopped me." he mumbled. "...goddamnit, I can't concentrate."

Steve exchanged a long look with Matsumoto and watched with a knowing glint of appreciation in his eye as one of the medically experienced shinigami scurried off towards the on-base infirmary they had. Then he turned to Natasha, gaze steely.

"Tasha, make sure that Mr. Hirako is terrified of your smile before he leaves." he said, his tone leaving no room for argument - not that the spy would argue anyhow. She cared about the boy about as much as the rest of the Avengers did. Which was a lot.

"Of course, Steve." she said, her tone deceptively kind. As Steve walked away, carrying a still-disoriented shinigami captain to the infirmary, she treated the Vizard to a rare, overly-saccharine smile. Hirako paled a bit, then had a thought and sent a fervent prayer to the Soul King for Unohana-taicho and Natasha Romanoff never to meet. If those two became friends...all of Soul Society stood no chance against those **smiles**.

* * *

Dvaoudar stiffened suddenly, mandibles clacking sharply together. He'd sensed it for just a moment, felt just the barest hint of that familiar white power. It drifted through his otherwise-useless nose, a sweet, pure scent unlike any other that flared in the universe.

For a moment he tried to follow it with a telepathic finger, but the signal was lost and jumbled in a chaotic mess, only pointing in a general direction rather than trailing to a specific planet in a specific galaxy. A sneer curled his lips nonetheless. The ones he'd been cultivating, slowly and surely, lay hidden in that quadrant. What a stroke of luck.

"Thanos..." he hissed into his subordinate's mind, twisted delight filling him. "We will set out for the Eighty-First Sector immediately. I can taste the Kismet!"

* * *

Please Review!

~avtorSola

P.S. The next chapter is going to be a little angsty, and a little fluffy. You have been warned. ;)


	11. Brotherhood

**A/N:** Long chappie, this one is. Buuuuut...we get to see a familiar face, and Steve finally figures out why Toushiro's power means so much to him...and just so everyone knows, this chapter is a turning point in the story, but you'll have to squint to understand why. Like, seriously. It sets up so much plot.

ALSO! I don't know if everyone reading this realizes...but this is the SEQUEL to Crash-landed. You may want to read that first before this. Otherwise it doesn't make much sense...

And now...enjoy!

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking"_

 _ **"Japanese"**_

Her mind was somewhat abuzz, she'd have to admit, fingering the hilt of her Zanpakutou lightly, biting her lower lip in a sort of imaginative distress. The Hell Butterfly flapped cheerfully along before her, the Senkaimon gradually giving way to a glowing square of light. She walked up to this square and touched it, watching as the doors formed and slid open.

She walked out into a gigantic training room, complete with person-shaped targets and several mats rolled up against one wall, probably used to cushion the hard tile floor during training. She blinked in no slight awe at the size of it, then picked up the gigai she'd had to carry through the Senkaimon with her and reluctantly put it on. It was itchy, and she wrinkled her nose in a pouting sort of distaste, flexing her hands. Then someone coughed, catching her attention and she whirled round, eyes wide, only to find a nervous-looking human standing in front of her. She smiled then. This person wasn't a threat,even though their reiatsu was significantly higher than normal. She could kill them if she absolutely had to.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully, extending a hand and speaking in perfect English. The short woman took her hand warily and shook.

"Hello." she said unenthusiastically. "Are you Lieutenant Hinamori?"

Momo nodded in the same cheery manner, automatically ignoring the woman's cautious greeting.

"Yep! Password is 'Greenbead' so I'm verified, now, right?" she exclaimed. The woman nodded again, now looking more puzzled than anything, but she held her tongue.

"Correct. I'm Agent Samantha Pointe. Level 2+, assigned to Pine Team." the agent offered. "You're being given Level 5+ security clearance while you're here, so you'll have access to the Commander in a one-on-one setting. If you'll follow me, I can take you to Lieutenant Commander Matsumoto."

Momo gaped a bit at the level of security surrounding her brother, then sighed, padding silently along after the full-figured woman.

"Eh, Shiro-chan's being silly again." she said, bouncing along after the human SRD agent. Samantha stopped, glanced back at Hinamori curiously.

"...Shiro-chan?" she asked, even more baffled. Momo frowned then.

"Mou, that's right. He always yells at me for calling him that." she said, her eyebrows dipping down toward her brown eyes. She looked a tad put out by the recollection. "You probably call him Captain Hitsugaya - no, wait, you said Commander earlier. Commander Hitsugaya."

Samantha's polished black stare turned to one of incredulous disbelief.

"...Do you even know the Commander?" she asked. "I just met him last week, and I already know that he's terrifying. He's going to hate that nickname."

Hinamori frowned at the woman, suddenly looking severe.

"Toushiro is my little brother." she said, her tone offended. "He doesn't have the capacity to be scary."

Samantha Pointe gaped at the girl for a solid minute, then shook off the shock and carried on. It was clear that either the Commander had a soft spot in his heart for this girl - a distinct possibility, given the way he and the Avengers interacted - or the young lieutenant hadn't seen her brother for quite some time.

Lieutenant-Commander Matsumoto met them outside Commander Hitsugaya's sealed office, wearing a pair of cargo pants and a black t-shirt similar to Hitsugaya's daily wear around the base. Unlike the commander, however, her t-shirt dipped down in a low v-neck, and the cargo pants were made of pink camo fabric. Samantha blushed a bit at the sight, though by now she'd become used to her superior's fashion style. Matsumoto frowned sadly at the pair of them.

"Aw, Sammy-chan, Hinamori-chan!" she said in her special bubbly way. "You just missed Hitsugaya-taicho!"

Momo pouted when she heard that.

"Mou, where did Hitsugaya-kun go?" she asked petulantly. "He never wants to see me anymore."

Matsumoto shifted uncomfortably at the statement - it wasn't far off the truth, in all honesty - and giggled in her usual distracting manner.

"Aa, Steve gave him a nasty bump on the head a few days ago, so he's just getting that checked out with the Fourth Division members we have here. He'll be back as soon as that's taken care of. In the meantime, would you like me to take you to where you'll be staying? You're rooming with me, if that's alright."

Hinamori nodded, now understanding Hitsugaya's conspicuous absence, and grinned widely at Matsumoto.

"Fine by me!" she said cheerfully. "Hirako-taicho said I was supposed to help you keep an eye on Arrancar activity while I was here."

Matsumoto nodded, confirming it, then smiled kindly at Samantha.

"Sammy-chan, you can go train with Fin-kun, if you want." she told the human agent with a smile, talking about the second of their two agents chosen to pilot the SRD's joint Hollow-disposal program. They'd arrived only recently but had already undergone the beginnings of the training they'd need to utilize their reiatsu.

Samantha sighed - _It's Sam, dammit -_ and obediently trotted off in the direction of Finbar Callaghan's small training room. The pair had claimed it as their personal space shortly after their arrival. Hinamori and Matsumoto watched her go for a minute, and then Momo broke the quiet.

"Is she one of the abnormal humans?" the girl asked curiously, her cocoa bob bouncing around her ears. Matsumoto just nodded.

"Yes, she is. We have two of them here right now." the tall, buxom woman said, her tone uncharacteristically stern. "Finbar Callaghan, a Level 6+ agent transferred from SHIELD who has a ton of battle experience, and Samantha Pointe, the young lady you just met. She was newer to SHIELD, so she hasn't had quite the experience, but her Spiritual Pressure is on par with a seated officer's."

Hinamori frowned.

"Why are you taking in SHIELD agents again? You know, instead of other people?" she asked, walking alongside Matsumoto as they started off for Matsumoto's quarters. The older lieutenant shrugged.

"Well, they need to have some sort of training in both secrecy and combat, so SHIELD's the best option for us to pull from. We still need someone to infiltrate SHIELD Academy first to recruit - it's in Washington D.C. - and right now, that looks like it's going to be Taicho." Matsumoto replied. Her face split in a wide smirk. "We're still hashing out the details, but Taicho needs to get inside SHIELD to keep in contact with Fury, and the easiest way is to make him into an agent-in-training following Steve-kun around. He'll have to get sent to SHIELD Academy at some point - he might as well scope out possible recruits while he's there."

They arrived at a long stretch of hallway lined with sliding doors, each painted a different color. Matsumoto pressed her hand to a scanner beside the nearest door, which was a sunny shade of coral, and the door popped open.

 _~"Hiya Matsumoto-chan!"~_

Tessa's bright voice echoed over the loudspeaker. Matsumoto smiled.

"Hello Tessa-chan!" she replied. "Could you pull up Hinamori-fukutaicho's profile? We need to scan her handprint."

 _~"Yep! I got you! Hinamori-san, could you please place your hand inside the outline on the panel by the door?"~_

Momo shot a confused look at Matsumoto, but did as she was told. A green bar of light ran up the scanner, recording the ridges of her skin and the contours of her hand with a simple digital sweep. Then Tessa spoke to the shinigami again, he voice a little more clipped, a little more official, as if she was verbally narrating the complex processes currently whirring in her electronic consciousness.

 _~"Handprint registered to Hinamori, Momo,_ _Level 5+, Shinigami. Pulse registered. Access granted."~_

The coral coloring on the door flickered, revealing that the painted appearance was nothing more than a digital illusion. Tessa chirped again.

 _~"Hinamori-san, Matsumoto-chan, do you want to change the door color?"~_ she asked. Matsumoto and Hinamori exchanged a long look and quickly engaged in a brief if slightly heated debate. Finally, Matsumoto spoke, her voice somewhat triumphant.

"Pink!" she said proudly. "Baby pink."

Hinamori sighed a bit, but smiled nonetheless. She'd wanted a soft sort of purple, but Matsumoto had overridden her and asked to at least keep the pink. So the gentle pink was their compromise. Tessa chirped somewhat offendedly.

 _~"I still think blue is the best color."~_ she sulked, but the door color changed to a soft baby pink nonetheless. Matsumoto huffed a bit at that, but her smile was fond, her expression gentle.

"Now, Tessa-chan, blue _is_ a nice color. I just like pink better, that's all. And Hinamori-chan likes purple." Matsumoto explained. "Taicho's taught you that not everyone shares the same opinions, right?"

The Space Stone sighed petulantly and sulked out an affirmative answer. Then she appeared to perk up a bit.

 _~"Nii-tama's back!"~_ she bubbled. ~" _I'm going to poke him."~_

Hinamori blinked in surprise, but the AI had already gone quiet. Matsumoto laughed a little bit.

"That's the Tesseract, Hinamori-chan." she explained, causing the girl's eyes to widen in surprise. "Taicho is telepathically connected to her and the other five Infinity Stones. He's been trying to teach them how to act like living beings, and so far Tessa is succeeding fairly well - she named herself, if you couldn't tell. The others aren't quite as far along."

Momo stared, openmouthed. There was no way her cute little brother had an overly rambunctious person like that in his mind...right?

"That girl lives in Shiro-chan's head?" she asked disbelievingly. Matsumoto shrugged.

"Pretty much." she replied offhandedly. "Now, come on, let's get you settled in before Taicho gets here."

Hinamori and Matsumoto disappeared into their now-shared room for a few moments so that the older lieutenant could give Hinamori all the things that had been bought for her to use during her stay. It was a fairly lengthy process, given that it was _Matsumoto._ But that was why Toushiro had assigned his lieutenant to watch over his sister. He knew Matsumoto would be able to keep the girl busy - and away from him.

Toushiro sat heavily, tiredly down in his office chair, fingering the medical tape stuck over his forehead gingerly. It was the only remnant of the blow Steve had dealt him earlier that week, but every time the warm-hearted soldier laid eyes on the thin strip of gauze he practically started brooding. Toushiro bit his lower lip, eyes narrowing. Brooding was _his_ prerogative, thank you very much, given that he was the only person on the base not actually _allowed_ to risk his life in any fashion despite the fact that he was actually the strongest person there. He was only one allowed to sulk for days on end.

Besides, the snow-capped commander thought dejectedly, at least Steve had a reason for attacking him. It hadn't been like what happened in the Winter War, when his blade had...Hitsugaya let out a soundless, wordless cry and hurled his chair backwards, trying to banish the image of his sister's body hanging limp off his sword from his mind, but it was already too late. He sank gently to the ground beneath his desk, breathing heavily, his hands cupped around his cheeks and mouth, desperately blanking out his thoughts. He was shaking, he noticed belatedly, a surge of anger coupled with mind-numbing guilt boiling through him. He heard the door to his office open hurriedly, heard Steve's heavy footsteps crash into the room, but he refused to lift himself off the floor, unwilling to show his vulnerable side.

"Toushiro? I heard a crash - are you alright?"

Hitsugaya almost seized at the sound of the supersoldier's voice, startled almost the point of using Soren Sokatsui as the taller soldier leapt gracefully over the desk and landed on the floor right next to him. Steve's expression was concerned.

"Toushiro?" he repeated, and abruptly the young commander turned his face away.

"I'm fine." he asserted shortly. "Fell out of my chair."

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Sure. That explains _exactly_ why it's in splinters on the wall." he said dryly, causing the white mop of hair to flinch a tad and for a green gaze to flicker up and land on the remains of the shattered grey chair, lying haphazardly on the black granite floor. Steve's face stayed patient, but not pitying.

"I'll ask again." he said, his tone firm. "Are you alright? You look exhausted."

Toushiro considered for a moment, ominously silent, then swallowed uncomfortably and averted his gaze. He set his head on his knees.

"You heard me talking to Hirako-taicho." he said quietly. "My sister destabilizes me, and now she's here. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep knowing that."

Steve took a seat on the floor next to the young captain, leaning comfortably against the desk drawers.

"Can I help in any way?" he asked. "I won't ask you to tell me anything you don't want to, but if I can make this easier for you anyhow, I'll do it."

Hitsugaya shot him a wan sidelong glance, then chuckled softly, his tone tense but not bitter.

"Alright, what did Matsumoto tell you?" he sighed. Steve went a bit red at the wordless accusation, but he held his ground.

"Not much." he admitted, folding his hands in his lap. "Just that a man called Aizen pretty much manipulated you and your sister."

Hitsugaya smiled a sour smile, staring pensively at the far wall.

"Well, that's about the size of it." he sighed. He was gradually relaxing as Steve continued talking to him, but there was an aura of defeatist anger hanging over the young man's head that Steve could almost taste. Slowly, unsure of how the young man would react, he reached out and with a deft, sure movement he drew the young man closer, hooking his arm about Toushiro's firm shoulders. Hitsugaya went stiff, but he made no immediate move away from the supersoldier's side. He just sat there, leaning awkwardly against the WWII veteran's chest, his messy fringe of white hair tickling the base of Steve's chin. Both of them stayed silent for a long moment, the American waiting patiently, understanding that Toushiro was trying - and failing - his hardest to convince himself to shrug off the comfort.

Finally, the ice crumbled. Toushiro shuddered and choked out a long breath, rubbing at the bags under his green eyes.

"Oh god, Steve..." his voice cracked, ending in a whistling note that would ordinarily make a dog flinch, but since this was _Hitsugaya_ _Toushiro_ who was slowly dissolving into a blubbering mess, Steve made no comment on the clear voice-crack. Instead, he reached up and started running his fingers through the young man's tangled white hair, as he sometimes did for Natasha whenever she was upset.

"...I _killed_ her." Toushiro whispered, eyes wide. Steve tried his best not to flinch, suddenly remembering a previous conversation in which it was revealed that the young shinigami had already watched someone precious to him die. Then the realization hit, and with flash of horror, all of the puzzle pieces clicked into place. The person that Toushiro had watched die...the person that he'd killed...it had been...

 _His own sister._

"...holy..." Steve breathed, blue eyes wide in shock. "...Momo Hinamori?"

Toushiro didn't nod, but the trembling in his slender shoulders grew more pronounced.

"...Aizen's power was Complete Hypnosis." The jade stare was fixed on the wide glass windows of the opposite wall, but the boy's face was pale and the green of his eyes had turned glassy, as if he couldn't see the world around him. "...The ability to completely control his...his opponents' five senses. He had almost all of the Gotei 13 under his spell, including m-me. We...we were fighting him, and I stabbed him...and when h-his illusion broke..."

Despite the sudden break in the story, Steve knew what happened next without a shred of doubt in his mind, Matsumoto's words playing on repeat in his head.

" _He quite enjoyed playing mind games with my captain and Hinamori. He turned them against each other a few times, and his trickery ended up destroying the relationship those two had. Nearly killed them both in the process..."_

"...you discovered that he'd tricked you into stabbing your sister." Steve finished numbly, still running his fingers through the soft, snowy-white of the pint-sized captain's pale hair. Toushiro swallowed hard, a shaking, unstable smile now gracing his lips. His reiatsu simmered, kaleidoscopic and volatile, dangerous. He pulled away from Steve a little bit, and the American felt himself grow anxious. He'd never seen Toushiro this rattled, even when the boy had been talking about the memory of his own death, but the American wasn't entirely sure that he could blame the lack of sleep on this newfound instability.

"Yeah." the ice-captain agreed unsteadily. "And Momo...she says doesn't blame me. But she still loves Aizen and...and he _threw her away!_ He used her like bait, like a pretty piece of worthless _shit_ , and he...he let her _see_. The whole time we were attacking her...she knew it was us. She...she saw my face...heard my voice...felt my sword slide through her..."

Toushiro's hands went up to his head, curling around clumps of his hair and pulling. He looked unbalanced, fragile, like one more blow to his emotional psyche could send him tumbling into the endless glacier of his cold mind.

"Aizen...he made me...he made me betray her." he murmured hollowly. "And he let me watch her die...in my arms."

A cold laugh split the air, and the young face twisted into something dark and vicious, malevolence and hatred turning the atmosphere into liquid. Steve felt faint, pressure closing in about his chest and temples, suffocating him slowly and surely. Icy blue-white reiatsu flickered off the edges of Toushiro's lithe frame, his lips split to bare his teeth. The upper half of his face was hidden in shadow, his hands still knotted in his hair.

"...I lost control...and he cut me down again." the tortured young soul snarled, his glare burning with poisonous hatred. "And he left me conscious, so that I could watch my entire world **burn -** so I could feel my sister's Spiritual Pressure slowly evaporate into _nothing_...Unohana-taicho only just managed to save h-her."

Steve choked, the bone-shattering cold drawing back memories of the plain of ice that he'd crashed the Hydra plane into. He almost regretted asking Toushiro to talk, but the moment that thought entered his mind he rejected it fiercely. Now that he knew this about the shinigami child, he knew why the poor boy rarely smiled. He knew why the young man rarely laughed. He'd died young and alone, been ostracized, and finally, been manipulated into killing his own sister. Almost everything this child had known had been dark and cold and cruel. And he'd responded by...

Steve could suddenly breathe again, completely unaware of the rise in his own windswept reiryoku, stricken. Toushiro had responded to all the evil he'd faced by building up his powers. No wonder he was so adverse to the thought of sitting back and letting others protect him. It wasn't just that his powers were the only thing which Soul Society valued about him, but he'd only had himself to rely on for so long that he was actually afraid to be weak. He was so afraid of all the betrayal, abandonment and ostracism that he'd had to deal with in the past that he'd thrown everything he was into his power. Because while he was powerful...he meant something.

So, despite knowing that while Toushiro was in this unstable, almost-psychotic state he could easily become a target, Steve swept the white-haired boy into a warm embrace. Hitsugaya flailed for a few seconds, his reiatsu whiplashing powerfully around his body, but Steve held on, his grip gentle, and slowly Toushiro calmed, the fight and anger and hatred draining from him, his exhaustion returning.

"Shh." the WWII veteran soothed once the hissing rush of wintry power had faded away, still holding the young shinigami close. "It's alright, Toushiro. Deep breath."

Toushiro stayed limp in Steve's grasp, his arms by his sides, his eyes glistening.

"...she still loves Aizen, Steve." he murmured tiredly. "After everything he put us through, she still defends him. And if it's not his fault..."

Steve killed the idea before it could form on Toushiro's lips, his gaze stern.

"It wasn't your fault, son." he said sternly. "Something that horrible should never have happened to either you or your sister. There's nobody at fault but Aizen. Your sister probably doesn't want to believe something that will hurt her so much - a defense mechanism. Just like your ice."

Toushiro's face shot up, nearly cracking his head against Steve's strong jaw, and he gaped up at the taller soldier in a sort of wordless confusion. Steve smiled a bit, the expression knowing.

"Yeah, I caught you." he said, a hint of humor entering his voice. "You're scared of trusting others to protect you, aren't you? That's why you want to be on the frontlines, because then you don't have to be vulnerable."

The young commander scoffed a bit, but he didn't meet Steve's gaze, instead glancing at the handle of the lowest drawer on his desk like it had moved funnily.

"Don't be stupid." he rebuked sharply, "I told you I'd let you protect me while I'm here, didn't I?"

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Giving us your permission and giving us your trust are two different things, kiddo." he replied gently, and Toushiro started chewing his lower lip uncertainly. Steve ruffled the boy's white hair.

"You don't have to give me your trust right now." he reassured. "And I don't mean the kind of trust you'd give to a comrade. I mean the kind of trust you'd give to a brother or a parent. The trust that forms the type of bond which enables you to let your feelings out. You need that."

The shinigami child stared incredulously, stunned that Steve would even ask for something so monumental, so incredibly personal. The American sighed, glancing over the desk and up at the door, checking to see that it was still closed tightly. For a moment he saw one of the Tenth Division shinigami at the door, but the moment the shinigami saw him they darted off. Then he ducked back down and let out a long breath.

"And since I know that will be hard for you...I'll start." he said quietly. Toushiro recoiled so fast it almost looked like he'd been electrocuted, his eyes wide.

"Why?" he breathed. "Why are you so...?"

Steve rolled his shoulders, which were a bit stiff from leaning back against the desk for so long, and shrugged.

"Persistent?" he suggested. "Caring? Interested? Because that's what family does, and you deserve a family. I know you wouldn't trust all of the Avengers yet; it's not who you are. Besides...after New York I realized just how badly you needed someone to rely on besides yourself, and I also realized that I want to be that person for you. So...I did say that I'd go first."

The American soldier rubbed his clean-shaven chin thoughtfully, thinking, his brow furrowing. Then he laughed.

"Did you know that I'm terrified of snow and ice?" he asked, his tone somewhat amused. "It's ironic considering that I'm sitting next to you, the prince of winter, but it's completely true."

Toushiro's lips quirked a bit at that, and though he still seemed confused by how Steve had chosen to reach out to him he leaned forward a bit, chewing his bottom lip again. It was quickly becoming clear that was a bad habit of his, one that grew more pronounced the less sleep he got.

"Because you crashed a plane into the arctic?" he asked hesitantly. Steve nodded, the smile dropping from his lips.

"I've been diagnosed with moderate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Snow, ice, and sometimes wind give me awful flashbacks." he confessed softly. "...Nobody else on the team knows, excluding Natasha."

Toushiro went pale.

"So...every time I flare my reiatsu...you..."

Steve shook his head, catching on quickly.

"Oh, no." he assured the boy. "You've actually been helping me get over it, son, so don't you worry. What's been more difficult is getting the hang of my reiryoku. It's wind-based."

Toushiro covered his face with his hands, suddenly feeling incredibly guilty for how he'd snapped at the man earlier in the week for being 'afraid' of his power. He coughed awkwardly.

"Steve, what I said earlier about your abilities..."

"Forget about it, kiddo. I am afraid of my power, just not for the reason you were thinking of." Steve cut him off in mid-apology, smiling faintly. Then his expression turned teasing. "It's mostly because I can give you bumps on the noggin though, and that's a bit terrifying, realizing that I can knock out a captain of the Gotei 13."

Toushiro shot to his feet, indignation and amusement flashing across his face.

"Oi, watch your mouth, human!" he snapped bossily, watching as Steve also stood to tower over him. He scowled. "I can kick your ass any day!"

Steve scoffed, though he was grinning like an idiot. Briefly, Toushiro wondered if Kurosaki had rubbed off on the American soldier.

"You? Kick my ass? You can barely reach my knee!" Steve teased back, staying in place just long enough to acknowledge the rage that quickly clouded over the boy's face. Toushiro stiffened, a vein popping on his forehead.

"ROGERS!" he thundered, his tiredness dissipating in the face of his wrath, and bolted after the tall soldier. "Get back here!"

Ten minutes later, Hinamori and Matsumoto walked back into the training room to find an irate Hitsugaya wiping the floor with a still-laughing Steve Rogers. Matsumoto blinked at the sight, watching with no little bemusement as her captain pummeled the taller man into the ground with a veritable flood of light punches and kicks. Then, without any warning, Steve reached out and managed to seize Toushiro around the waist and drop him back-first onto the sparring mat they'd rolled out, quickly following the boy down and pinning him down, still laughing.

"Steve, get the hell off- A-ack! St-stop it!" Toushiro choked out, squirming uncontrollably as the American soldier wriggled his fingers over the young man's side and began to tickle. The two lieutenants stared in something akin to awe as the child-captain writhed, his protests giving way to hysterical laughter. Steve switched targets, concentrating now on the boy's stomach. Toushiro let out a screech, trying to curl his body away from the tickling fingers, but Steve had him trapped. So he lashed out with his hands, pushing up on the broad-shouldered captain's torso, unable to speak any longer, breathless with laughter.

Steve grinned wickedly and seized the boy's thin wrists in one hand, pressing them down to the mat above Toushiro's head and dropping a knee across the young man's chest to prevent him from getting up. He continued to tickle the shinigami captain, laughing along with the boy.

"Kick my ass, will you?" the supersoldier teased, smiling. "I don't think so."

Toushiro gasped, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes, his young face illuminated by a wide smile and the panting, laughing mess he'd been reduced to. He was too tired to protest much anymore, so he gave in.

"Okay...Okay...I take..." he gasped, still struggling fruitlessly. "...I take it...take it back...oh god, stop!"

His victory complete, Steve let the young man go and ceased tickling him, smiling widely. Toushiro rolled over on his side, facing away from where Matsumoto and Hinamori stood transfixed, breathing heavily, the smile still curling his lips up, his face flushed and pink.

Steve shot a glance at Matsumoto as he bent over the young captain, looking pointedly from her to the open door behind her in something like panic. The Tenth Division Lieutenant understood immediately, then took a confused Hinamori by the arm and tiptoed outside to wait.

As soon as they were outside, Momo scowled at Rangiku, her expression pouting.

"Why didn't we stay?" she asked, her tone demanding. Rangiku's face contorted.

"Because Taicho wouldn't want us to see him acting like that." she said shortly. Momo rolled her eyes, tossing her short, dark hair in something like derision.

"Shiro-chan wouldn't mind. I'm his sister!" she said, folding her arms over her chest. Rangiku looked hard at the girl.

"Hinamori." she warned, her tone stern. "The last thing Taicho would want is for you to start treating him like a child. If he knew we'd seen that, he'd shut down."

Momo huffed irritably.

"He _is_ a child!" she argued. "And he's _my_ little brother - I grew up with him!"

"He's a Captain of the Gotei Thirteen, Hinamori-chan." Matsumoto retorted sternly. "And he's the Commander of the SRD. What would you think if you saw Kuchiki-taicho or Komamura-taicho behaving like that?"

Hinamori frowned.

"Well, they'd be acting very childish." she said primly. "And not like captains at all."

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow, and just then Hinamori realized what she'd said. She covered her mouth with her hands.

"But...Hitsugaya-kun is a child! He's _supposed_ to act like that sometimes!" she protested, eyes wide. Rangiku sighed.

"He's not allowed to be a child in Seireitei, Momo-chan." she explained, her voice gentle. "The only reason you were allowed to sometimes act like a little girl was because you had a captain who was well-known for his fatherly disposition. Taicho never had that. He's a prodigy, and everyone expected him to behave like a prodigy - serious, cold, and a little cruel. If he'd started goofing off like that...people would have said that he wasn't fit for his position and have taken steps to remove him - by force if need be."

The chocolate gaze was horror-stricken, and Momo's small mouth hung open in shock. Matsumoto sighed.

"Hinamori-chan, you need to understand that my taicho _isn't_ just a little boy anymore." she said gently. "He had to grow up to avoid getting killed. You were lucky...and he wasn't. What Steve's giving him now is the ability to be young again. Please, don't take that away from him by going in there and making him freeze up."

Momo's eyes pricked with tears.

"Why can't he act young around me too?" she whispered. "What...why? I'm his sister, I should know...but I don't."

Matsumoto wrapped the girl in a warm hug, also feeling sad. Momo wasn't the only one that Hitsugaya was pushing away.

"Because he wants to be strong for us, Momo." she said quietly. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't love us. But he's been through too much to open up to us."

Hinamori choked.

"That's not fair..." she whimpered, hugging Rangiku back. "And I still don't understand. Doesn't he trust us? Doesn't he trust me?"

Matsumoto stared at the door to the training room in which her captain had finally laughed, feeling an intense sense of longing. She would have given anything to finally make her dear little captain smile and laugh, but deep down, she knew that she'd never be able to make her captain feel as at ease as Steve did. The chain of command had bitten too deep into the ice-captain's mind, become too firmly entrenched in his thought processes for her to sidestep. Yes, perhaps she could help, but she'd never be able to have the same relationship that Steve was trying to cultivate. And ever since Hinamori had chosen Aizen over Hitsugaya, the chances of them sharing that sort of relationship had been destroyed.

But Matsumoto didn't begrudge Steve the opportunity. Instead she smiled, an innate sense of content filling her with warmth. If Steve could become her captain's pillar, become the elder brother her taicho so desperately needed...then she'd thank him for it. If, even for one moment, her captain had someone who he completely trusted, then she'd be happy for her pint-sized taicho. He'd been denied a steadfast parental figure for his entire life, and it was about time he finally received that kind of love. It wasn't her, and that hurt a bit, but she understood. Toushiro needed someone who wasn't blinded by his captaincy and was able to see him and respect who he was despite his appearance and power. That person was Steve.

So Matsumoto just sighed and rubbed circles into Hinamori's back.

"He trusts us, Momo-chan, more than we'd ever know." she said quietly. "Just not in the way we might want him to."

Inside the training room, Hitsugaya lay flat on his back next to Steve, still smiling faintly, listening quietly as the World War Two veteran regaled him with tales of his pre-serum life. He was so caught up that he barely noticed when Steve's voice began to fade out. But Steve noticed, his gaze gentle, and fell silent. Toushiro had fallen asleep curled into the supersoldier's strong side, his lips quirked by a soft sort of mirth even in his sleep. As tenderly as he could, the tall man gathered the slumbering shinigami up in his arms and carried him out of the training room, leaning the boy's tousled white head against his chest. Toushiro stirred a bit, but quickly quieted again, his face staying peaceful.

Matsumoto and Hinamori watched the pair pass silently. Rangiku's face was soft, understanding, and she smiled at them as they turned a corner. But Hinamori watched, hurt, as Steve carried her brother away, a pang of jealousy and sadness rippling in her chest.

She turned her face away, the chocolate of her eyes darkening to a midnight brown, and tried not to cry.

* * *

So. Any questions? Thoughts? Critiques?


	12. Animen

"At ease, men." Hitsugaya commanded calmly, his tone even. He glanced over at his two human recruits, watching them out of the corner of his eye. Both were trembling from the effort it had taken to call out their reiryoku, but they were slowly getting stronger.

"Agent Pointe." he snapped suddenly, causing the woman to jump, her dark eyes wide. He watched her for a moment, his green gaze hard and calculating. Then he softened a bit, his scowl lightening into a neutral, flat line.

"You did very well today, Pointe-san." he asserted then, a pleased glint entering his keen glare. "Your Fullbring has developed nicely."

The agent started and saluted, the hint of a smile coming to her lips as she accepted her commander's dry praise. The gold bangles on her wrist jingled a bit. Hitsugaya glanced at them - the source of her Fullbring. Then he glanced at her companion, gaze lingering on the silver pistol in Callaghan's pocket.

"Callaghan, you also did well, though your aim still needs work." he said, and the brown-haired man straightened up, his shoulders rolling back. It was clear that both of the humans were pleased to hear his approval finally, after he'd spent the last few weeks critiquing them so terribly. He sighed then and made an executive decision.

"Therefore, as of this moment forward, I am declaring Pine Team ready for active duty." he said firmly, his words eliciting sharp grins from the six current members of Pine Team. They were still a skeleton crew, as the search for agents with viable reiatsu was still ongoing, but even a skeleton crew was better than nothing. Hitsugaya's brow creased as he remembered the headlines in the New York Times yesterday.

A Hollow had been sighted in New York. It had been walking the fringes of the city, chasing after a young Plus soul, but it had been seen by no less than four eyewitnesses.

 _Four._

Before the Battle of New York, there had been less than 8,000 people on the whole of planet Earth that had the ability to see Plus spirits - let alone Hollows, or shinigami, both of which required higher Spiritual Power to observe. Now there were four in _one_ neighborhood. The shinigami hadn't been seen killing the beast, given the high quality of the reishi their bodies were comprised of, but the Hollow had been sighted. Therefore, the SRD needed to have an active team _now_ , before people started asking questions that the shinigami couldn't answer. The shinigami needed to be able to pass themselves off as SRD members when the time came - needed to be able to act like living agents and not as non-humans. If they couldn't blend in...if the SRD couldn't take the credit...then the Soul Society might be exposed.

They couldn't afford for that to happen.

"Tachibana." he snapped, causing one of his Thirteenth Seats to snap to attention.

"Commander!" he responded, his voice strong, and Hitsugaya turned on his heel, executing a flawless pivot, and started towards the door.

"Equip all members of your team with a Modified Soul Phone." he ordered over his shoulder. "And give them their uniforms, trackers included. I want a lock on your locations at all times when you're on duty."

The shinigami man bowed to his captain and organized his five underlings - three unseated shinigami and the two humans - as Hitsugaya strode swiftly from the training room. He smirked a bit, the thunk of his tan combat boots on the concrete floor keeping time for his thoughts, which were swirling around his thoughts in slow circles.

It was the first time in several days that he'd been the only one of the Avengers present in the SRD's Canadian-soil complex, and oddly enough, he found himself missing the constant banter and and camaraderie that had surrounded the group he'd inexplicably found himself part of. The absence of Steve was an especially acute ache, but Fury had called the taller soldier up to raid a Hydra base not two days previous. And as per the Tri-World Alliance strict agreement...Steve was a human first. He had a duty to SHIELD before the SRD. Besides, he was due back late that night, so it wasn't as if the man wasn't coming back.

And anyhow, recently the Mind Stone had become restless, and he wasn't particularly keen on being subjected to a crapload of security and Steve-panic simply because Yellow was a hairsbreadth from maturity.

Hitsugaya raised his arms above his head and cracked his back. He'd been sitting stiffly in his office all week, or so it seemed, trying to complete the paperwork that Hinamori and Matsumoto kept piling on his desk. They had been running back and forth between Seireitei and the SRD for days, trying to keep up with the constant flow. He scowled. At least Matsumoto was doing her work now. Hinamori - thank god - had managed to bully the older woman into doing it.

Slowly, Toushiro swept back along the concrete hallway to the long hallway where all the officers had their personal rooms. The baby pink on Matsumoto and Hinamori's door had finally transmuted to an odd lavender-and-hot-pink gradient that personally disgusted him, but he wouldn't dare mention that to either lieutenant. With a roll of his eyes, he stepped past Steve's plain blue and Natasha's velvety maroon doors and arrived at his room. He'd somehow been sandwiched between Steve and Thor (whose door was gold, of course), and he wasn't entirely sure that was an accident. After all, they were the ones with access to the Bifrost Bridge, should he have another episode.

He pressed his palm to the scanner and waited a brief moment for his dark green door to slide open before stepping inside his quarters and kicking off the clunky boots. With a pneumatic hiss, the door sealed itself behind him, leaving him completely alone in the small box he called home now.

With a massive groan, he let himself pitch forward onto his bed, landing face first in the immaculately clean sheets. For a moment, he simply lay there, completely content to smother himself in the pillows, but eventually decided better of it and rolled on his side so he could breathe.

He sighed, closed his eyes and sank deep into his inner world with practiced ease, slipping through the cold ripples of gentle pressure on his face. For a moment, he did absolutely nothing, relishing the feeling of the spiritual snow falling on his face and clinging to his dark eyelashes, the soft breaths of freezing air on the side of his neck. All around him, the snow was soft and pillowlike. With a slight jolt of realization, the young shinigami realized that it had been several months since he'd gone to sleep inside his inner world - an oft-used mechanism for communion with the more powerful Zanpakutou spirits.

" _Come now, Little One."_ Hyourinmaru scolded gently.  " _Open your eyes."_

Toushiro groaned again, but a faint smirk lifted his lips and he complied. Hyourinmaru's massive scarlet eye loomed over him, as large across as he was tall, and cold mist puffed from the draconic nostrils about two and a half meters from where his legs were buried in the pure white snow. Hyourinmaru was massive, easily twice the size of a Boeing 747, and each of his wings sent snow flying hundreds of feet into the atmosphere at the slightest movement.

Soaring high in the dark, moonlit sky of his inner world, six multicolored, humanoid figures soared around, glowing like fireworks in the bitterly cold air. Toushiro gazed past the iced ridges of his Zanpakutou's gargantuan snout and smiled faintly, amused by the sight of the six frolicking in the star-studded black dome. Then he sighed and sat up, brushing the snow from his clothes. Hyourinmaru lay his head down by his master's side, puffing calmly, through there was concern in his eyes.

"Tessa!" Toushiro called suddenly, leaning back against the skein of silvered blue ice forming Hyourinmaru's massive coils. The blue figure in the sky started, the sound of his voice echoing endlessly within his inner world, and then, the other colors in tow, Tessa fell back to the glacial land beneath her. She crumpled into the snow, laughing, her glowing blue hair casting shadows on the snow about her, but then the other five followed suit, splaying out in their host's arctic wasteland with smiles on their multicolored faces.

" _Tessa-chan, please."_ Hyourinmaru remonstrated gently, and with his thunderous rumble the six fell silent, though they were still smiling.

Tessa stood up, the glowing blue contours of her body flickering and warping, and scooped Orange up in her arms. As she and the other Stones were made entirely of energy, their humanoid forms were insubstantial. But they were very good at maintaining some semblance of form now. Across from her, Yellow mirrored her stance with Green balanced precariously on his hip. He was now also a young adult in appearance, and Toushiro could sense that he was getting ready to declare his identity.

"Animen." he said suddenly. Yellow glanced up at the others, smiling in his solemn way, a bright golden light spiraling over his luminous yellow skin. The infant Green whined.

"My name is Animen." Yellow declared. Toushiro quirked an eyebrow, but he'd felt the breakaway coming on for several weeks now. Tessa positively beamed at the Mind Stone.

"Animen." Hitsugaya said, rolling the word around on his tongue, tasting the Latin roots through the haze of gold. He nodded finally, jade gaze fixating on the yellow Stone.

"It's a good name." he approved, and Animen let a smile break out on his face.

"Then I suppose it's time for me to physically manifest." he said calmly. Toushiro blinked in surprise, but before he could say anything Purple, Red, and Tessa had tackled him. Orange and Green were set into snow and they babbled happily, watching. Animen stepped over the snow, still glowing brightly, then knelt before his white-headed host. Purple, ever the twitchy one, had already sat on the shinigami's stomach, smirking fiercely. Tessa and Red each had one of the young teenager's wrists in their hands, gripping as tightly as their pure-energy bodies would allow.

Hitsugaya sighed, a long-suffering sigh that almost sounded like the deep, calming breath that Steve often had to use whenever Tony was doing stupid crap. Then he stared lazily at the Mind Stone, jade gaze narrow. He hadn't bothered to struggle.

"Explain, if you please." he said sternly. As one, each of the six looked a bit guilty, especially Animen, who scuffed his glowing golden foot against the white snow.

"...I have to fuse my physical form with you." he said sheepishly. "And...well, considering that you have a flesh-and-blood body, it will probably hurt."

Toushiro shrugged.

"As long as you don't whiplash around erratically, I don't care." he said. He lifted his chin, exposing a bit more of the long, looping tattoo that curled down around his chest like an overly large necklace. "Hurry up already. I think Hinamori wants to see me. Her reiatsu is tingeing my sense of smell."

Animen nodded and touched the small patch of golden skin on Hitsugaya's chest, his face probing. Tessa blinked suddenly, then drew upon her spacetime warping skills and dragged the Mind Stone's tiny, rock-like form through the dimensions until Animen and his stone body overlapped for just a moment. Then the tiny yellow stone sunk down into his skin, taking its place on the tattoo linking the Stones together.

With an awful jolt, he was forced from his inner world, and though he could not see the Yellow Stone thanks to his gigai's concealing power, he could feel the searing sealing of his skin against the smooth gemstone. Hitsugaya bit his lower lip on the howl that tried to escape him. His chest was burning, the sudden influx of the Mind Stone's power wreaking havoc on his body as the reishi-made cells tried to adjust, and for the first time he was grateful that he'd been unconscious when he'd fused with Tessa.

But this fusion took place with startling alacrity, and suddenly the pain was gone, leaving only a subtle wash of soothing power flooding his every pore. The difference between Tessa's ebullient energy and Animen's calm surge was stunning, but the dichotomy left Toushiro feeling significantly more complete than he had previously. He sighed, and opened his eyes, trembling a little bit. He wasn't as weak as he had been after the Tesseract's power had melded with his soul, but movement was definitely an effort. He reached up, touched tattoo looping down over his collarbones, and flared his power a little bit.

Immediately, he felt both the Mind Stone and the Space Stone swell from the skin of his gigai, smooth and cool under his fingertips. Animen and Tessa twined their thoughts effortlessly with his, and after a bit of a stretch, the other four joined them.

" _Onii-sama, are you well?"_ Animen asked softly. His tone was respectful and calm - a godsend, surely, Toushiro thought. He ground the heels of his hands against his eyes.

" _Somehow."_ he replied. " _I suppose Tessa's presence in my body has conditioned my cells to accept all of your powers?"_

Animen's nod wasn't seen, but rather felt in the back of Toushiro's spiraling mind.

" _Yes, Onii-sama."_ the Mind Stone said helpfully. " _Tessa-nee's power was the catalyst to spark the change in you. Now that you are compatible, the merging is much quicker and less painful, though I'm afraid you will still be physically and mentally tender for a few hours."_

Toushiro shrugged and sat up, glancing at the door. He could sense Hinamori on the other side, sense her hesitation and longing, and sighed deeply.

" _I'll just have to deal with that, then."_ he decided firmly. " _But thank you for the warning, Animen-bouzo."_

With a swell of cautious affection, the six retreated from his mind, though Tessa and Animen now lingered permanently in his subconscious, humming veins of blue and yellow in his mind's eye. And Toushiro waved the door open.

Hinamori tiptoed hesitantly in, her sweet face a bit nervous, her dark eyes soulful as ever. She stood awkwardly in the entrance to her brother's room for a full minute before toeing off her flat shoes and stepping into the room, closing the door behind her. Hitsugaya watched her carefully, his expression neutral, his emotions firmly tamped down. Then he hunched his shoulders forward a bit and forced the hints of a smile to come to his face.

"Hinamori." he said, his voice gentle. "What is it?"

The pretty lieutenant blinked at him, then cross his room and tugged the chair from under his desk and sat in it, her legs folded in a crisscrossing manner beneath her. She put her chin on the back of the chair, folding her arms beneath her head and tried to return the forced smile.

"I wanted to see you, Hitsugaya-kun." she said, pouting a bit. "...I've missed you lately. You're always so _busy_."

The forced smile on Toushiro's pale face melted into something real then, and he reached out with his reiatsu, twining his icy power around his sister tense frame. She squealed a bit.

"H-Hitsugaya-kun! That's cold!" she protested, smiling now, the expression illuminating her face. His smirk didn't flag in the slightest, but he did retract his reiatsu, though the jade of his eyes still danced with mirth. Hinamori stuck out her tongue at him, her pout all the more pronounced.

"Mou, Shiro-chan, stop laughing at me!" she groused, and Toushiro stiffened, a flash of playful annoyance snapping like lightning across his face.

"Oi, I have a title! Use it, Bedwetter Momo!" he retorted, smirking again at the blush of embarrassment on his sister's face. She squawked in indignation.

"Hey, I don't wet the bed anymore!" she groused, sulking. For a moment the siblings glared at each other, and though the contest lacked the heat of anger it was still rather intense for a simple staring contest. Finally, Hinamori retracted her gaze, her moue lighthearted rather than sullen.

"Eh, you're as stubborn as ever." she commented lightly, and gradually Toushiro felt the icy barriers slide back over his heart. He just shrugged.

"I guess." he dismissed the matter carelessly. Then he flopped back against the headrest of his bed, leaning against the smooth wood with something like morbid curiosity in his eyes. "So, what do you need?"

Hinamori rolled her eyes and frowned at her brother.

"I don't need a reason to want to hang out with my little brother." she said decisively, conveniently missing the way Hitsugaya's brows knitted together in distaste at the mention of the taboo adjective 'little' and instead focusing on the packet of amanattou she held in her hands. "Besides, Obaa-san gave me some amanattou to share with you."

At the mention of the sweet, Hitsugaya tensed a bit, his jade gaze flitting to the package in his sister's hand. Momo giggled a bit at the almost childish look in his eyes. It was clear that if he hadn't had such self-control, then he'd probably be drooling. Taking pity on her brother, she tore open the top of the package and rattled the candied beans inside, holding the pouch out.

"Here you go, Shiro-chan!" Hinamori said, her brown eyes twinkling. "You first."

Hitsugaya treated his sister to a rare moment of gentleness, his jade gaze softening somewhat.

"Thanks, Momo."

The pair sat in relative silence for a while, demolishing the package of amanattou at a steady rate. Surprisingly, Toushiro was less subdued with the sweet candies than usual, and Hinamori tried not to stare as the young captain stuffed a small handful into his mouth, filling one of his cheeks to chipmunk-like proportions, but she couldn't help giggling at the image. Then the emerald stare shot onto Hinamori, looking like a deer-in-the-headlights. Too late, Hinamori realized her mistake, and as her brother stiffened and began to slowly chew she flinched.

"Wait, Shiro-chan..." she tried. "Don't be embarrassed - it was really cute."

The young man swallowed and shot his sister a dark look.

"I'm not cute, Hinamori." he said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. Hinamori's face fell, and she bit her lower lip, trying hard to suppress the tears in the corners of her eyes.

"...what's wrong with being cute, Hitsugaya-kun?" she asked quietly. Toushiro refused to look at her, instead turning his face to the wall and sighing.

"Nothing's wrong with being cute, Hinamori." he said finally. "But cuteness doesn't win battles or protect people or solve problems, and as a captain that's what I have to do. I don't have time to be cute."

Hinamori's temper spiked, and she stood up, glaring at her brother.

"Fine." she said suddenly, her tone bitter. "Apparently cute people like me can't win battles or protect people or solve problems then."

Toushiro's head whipped around so fast that Hinamori was surprised that he neck didn't snap, his green eyes wide.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it." he argued, but Hinamori held up a hand to stop him midsentence.

"I just want us to be friends again, Hitsugaya-kun!" she said tearfully. "But every time I catch you acting like you're having fun, you clam up! And I don't understand why - don't you trust me?"

Hitsugaya was rigid, every muscle in his body taut with strain, and when he spoke again his words were fast and pained, like he'd chosen to get the explanation over with as quickly as possible.

"I do trust you, Hinamori. But a captain can't show weakness, and if I show that I'm 'having fun' then it will be seen as childishness. As a captain, especially considering my level of experience and my appearance, childishness will get me killed."

Hinamori shook her head.

"You don't know that, Shiro-chan!" she protested. Toushiro shot to his feet.

"I do know that!" his voice grew a bit louder, his gaze a bit more stern, and in that moment Hinamori lost sight of Hitsugaya Toushiro and saw only Hitsugaya-taicho. She quailed, feeling completely lost.

"Three days after I took the oath of captaincy, the Shihoin clan tried to assassinate me!" he snapped. "Three days after I put on my haori, two rogue members of the Onmitsukido tried to slit my throat! Don't tell me that having fun doesn't make me appear weak, because it _does_ , Momo! I've almost paid with my life for making that mistake - I won't do it again!"

Hinamori froze, shaking. She fisted her hands in the soft fabric of her loose black pants, trying to keep her trembling to a minimum, then spoke, her voice cracking.

"...Hitsugaya-kun, why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, looking up at the ice-captain with pleading eyes. And he softened again, his cold exterior melting away to reveal her little brother again. He came over to her, set his hands on her shoulders and looked up into her eyes. Even for all his power, he still looked three years younger than she was, and was correspondingly shorter.

"I didn't want you to worry, Hinamori." he said tersely, his face so terribly solemn, yet he seemed like he'd been stretched thin, stressed to the point of cracking. "You had just become a lieutenant and you were so happy, so joyful...I didn't want to spoil all that with my problems. You deserved the joy you were feeling."

Hinamori's brown eyes widened in shock.

"But you'd just become a captain!" she argued back. "If anything, that deserves more happiness and praise than my appointment as a lieutenant!"

Hitsugaya just smiled, though the expression seemed strange on his face.

"Becoming captain didn't bring me joy the way becoming a lieutenant did for you, Hinamori." he said, his voice oddly strained. "Between spoiling your fun and relieving my own suffering, there was a lesser evil, and I chose it."

"But Hitsugaya-kun-"

"No buts, Hinamori." Hitsugaya cut in, his voice cool, his tone trembling just a bit. For the first time, Hinamori realized that her brother's hands were shaking slightly, and she flinched a bit at the sight, baffled by his tension. Toushiro smiled unsteadily.

"I made myself a promise, Hinamori." he told her. "I'm not letting you get hurt. Never again."

He said the last part so quietly that she almost didn't catch it, but she did manage to hear the brief phrase. For half a moment, she didn't understand, but by the time her eyes had rounded and her hand had flitted to the scar on her chest the white-haired preteen had turned away from her, hiding the green of his masklike glare from her sight.

"Hinamori...thank you for the amanattou." he continued softly. Momo felt the tears well in her eyes, but she knew a dismissal when she heard one.

"You're welcome...good-night, Hitsugaya-kun."

She turned and left.

He dreamed that night.

* * *

Review, please! :)


	13. Memories of the Rain and Snow

**A/N:** Okay, so this chapter took me forever to get just right. To really understand what's going on, you might want to go back and read Chapter 4 of _Crash-landed_. Not necessary...but it might help.

On another note, updates might be a little slower from this point on. As you may have noticed, I've been trying to put out a new chapter every eight to ten days or so, but I might have to change it to one every two weeks. I'm a beta for another story now, and my classwork is starting to pick up. Thank you for your understanding!

ALSO! If anyone has any oneshot/drabble prompts for _Flashes of Color_ , please PM me!

* * *

 _It was raining. Hard. So hard that he could barely see the line of trees on the far side of the field. A shiver wracked his thin frame, and he coughed into the palm of his hand, the cold sinking deep under his skin, where it reached his bones and burrowed inward. Miserable, he wiped at his running nose with a soaked sleeve and only succeeded in getting his face even wetter than it already was. He heard a shout of rapid French in the distance, answered quickly by the derogatory catcalls of the German soldiers in the trench a short distance in front of where he stood._

 _His slender fingers long since numb with cold, he tried to shift his weight from one foot to the other and nearly fell face-first into the mud with the flag on top of him. Thankfully, he managed to regain his balance in time, and the nasty Lieutenant who had snatched him up from the relatively dry orphanage where he'd lived didn't turn around fast enough to see his mistake._

 _It took another hour for complete darkness to fall and the moon to show_ _hints of_ _her white face_ _through the dissipating rainclouds. The silver moonlight reflected off the battlefield, illuminating the shadowy shapes of…_

 _Frenchmen._

 _The shout went up among the Germans and suddenly the night was rife with the sound of gunshots. Toushiro flinched and clutched the wooden flagpole more tightly to his eleven-year-old body, terrified by the screams of death echoing over the French lines. But then the return fire began coming, and the German screams began to mix with the French cries until the entire night had been destroyed with sound._

 _And then something hit him in the stomach and he fell backward, thrown by the force of the impact. The flag slipped from his fingertips, and he stared up at those few visible stars_ _in incomprehension as he fell, confused until he hit the ground._

 _That was when the pain hit him._

 _He would have screamed, but his breath had been taken away and so he settled for gasping, weakly struggling in the mud against the surefire knowledge that nobody cared. He choked suddenly, coughed, and red came up, seeping into the liquid dirt around him. The pain in his stomach was blinding, every time he took a breath he could feel a horse kicking him in the gut. And slowly, that damning thought formed._

I've been shot.

 _He stilled at that, tried just to breathe through the agonizing haze of rain and mud and blood. For several long, long minutes – or were they hours? He was losing focus – he kept himself from moving, his fingers lying limp over the bleeding bullet hole in his hollow belly. It was growing so cold…_

 _Blearily, he realized that the gunfire hadn't stopped, but it seemed quieter, and with a flash of panic he understood what was happening. Tears mixed with the rain on his face, and he breathlessly tried to tell the hidden stars_ _that_ no, I won't go! _He watched, crying inside, as the moon's fractured light grew fainter and fainter, seeping away from him slowly, like the reluctant traces of blood oozing from his veins into the mud around him. The sound continued to dull, the world continued to dim, and his pain gradually lessened despite how hard he was fighting to stay awake._

 _Finally, he managed to form one sentence._

" _I…I…" he whispered, whimpered. "I…w-want…a h-home…"_

 _The moon looked down at him as the world darkened into pitch, the lone light left to his glazing gaze._

 _He took his last breath still hoping in vain for a reply._

* * *

Flailing, his voice choked and hoarse from the sobs that had escaped from his throat in his sleep, Toushiro tore himself from sleep, tears still standing in the corners of his eyes. For several minutes he thrashed, struggling against the blankets twisted and knotted around his thin frame. Then with a blast of icy reiatsu he threw the coverlet across his bedroom and sat bolt upright, his entire body trembling, his heart racing at top speed. It had been years since he'd last had that nightmare. And he knew that Hinamori's arrival and their subsequent conversations had triggered it.

The phantom pain of a bullet piercing his stomach wouldn't leave him, the cold rain numbing his skin and chilling his blood with a peculiar bite that he hadn't experienced since he'd died. He doubled over, falling back onto his bed, curled in the fetal position, his breath harsh and rapid. The memories had come on hard and fast, hitting him when he wasn't expecting it, when he didn't have the careful block up he needed to control himself.

" _Gently, little one."_ Hyourinmaru rumbled in his mind, shushing the worried exclamations from Tessa, Animen, Red, and the sobs of fear from Purple, Green and Orange, all of whom were frightened by the sudden onslaught of grief, pain, and terror swimming through their host. The dragon was uncharacteristically concerned.

" _You're safe, master."_

The words rang hollow in Toushiro's pale ears, and he gasped again. He could feel warm blood rising up his throat, the agonizing throes of death come to pull the bullet from his stomach with pincerlike claws. He jerked, unseeing, and cried out, slowly drifting away from the reality of his room, sinking deeper into the memory, shaking. He played it over in his mind again helplessly, caught in the terrifying grief that always accompanied thoughts of his death.

Outside, he could hear people moving around in the hallways, and he realized dimly that he must be making quite a racket, but somehow the only thing that seemed to stick in his mind was...

 _He'd died alone._

With a soft whimper, he bent his head and cried.

The door to his room slid open quickly, revealing a very concerned-looking Steve who was still clad in his 'Captain America' suit, followed by stealth-suited Natasha, Tony, Matsumoto, and a white-faced Momo.

Everything froze.

Steve, Natasha and Tony had just gotten off the private jet that the billionaire had been using to ferry himself between the SRD, so neither had known what to expect when they'd heard the oddly strangled sobs echoing through the hallway where the Avengers, Matsumoto and Hinamori had their rooms. But Steve had recognized Toushiro's voice through the mess and immediately dropped his pack and ran towards the young commander's room by his at the end of the hall. Now he stood frozen in the doorway, looking at a red-eyed, distraught shinigami who had clearly been torn from sleep by a nightmare of terrible proportion.

Behind him, he heard Matsumoto shooing the few other shinigami away, her tone stern but hushed. Softly, he caught the phrase 'Memory Sentinel' and then the pieces clicked into place. He sighed, coming closer to where the boy had curled in on himself, his head now buried in his pillow, sobbing so hard that his entire body shook. Steve sat next to the preteen, curving a strong arm about the thin shoulders and drawing the kid in close to his chest.

"Shh." Steve murmured, gently wrapping the young man in his arms and starting to slowly rock back and forth. "Shh. It's alright, Toushiro. You're okay."

Toushiro unfolded himself slightly, choosing instead to hide his blotchy face in the collar of Steve's pajamas, but Steve's attempt to soothe the disconsolate captain was largely unsuccessful. Silently, Tony, Natasha, Hinamori and Matsumoto filed into the room, clustering closely around Hitsugaya's bed. Matsumoto and Hinamori especially were solemn, and slowly the smell of ash and sweet peaches filled the air, their warm reiatsu permeating the room, an anchor for the young man to link himself to.

It took several long minutes for Toushiro's hysterics to die down into gentle sobs, but even so he couldn't seem to stop crying.

"…Did you dream of the war?" Steve asked quietly, running his fingers through Toushiro's soft white hair. Tony shot the supersoldier a puzzled look, unsure of where he was headed with that question, but Natasha, Hinamori and Matsumoto seemed to understand. Imperceptibly, Matsumoto nodded over her captain's head, her blue gaze sad.

"Yeah…" Toushiro whispered slowly, his voice choked by tears. Steve sighed, the beat of Toushiro's warm heart pulsing gently through the thin preteen's ribcage.

"I do too, sometimes." He admitted gently, ignoring the way that Tony's eyebrows shot into his hair and Natasha's face grew solemn. When he'd said that he'd open up to the boy, he'd meant it. The presence of his friends wasn't going to stop him from keeping a promise. "Sometimes I'm back in that plane, looking at the ice as it approaches, panicking inside…knowing that I'm about to die, knowing that I'll never see any of my friends again, knowing that I'll never date the woman I used to love…"

Toushiro drew back a bit, his tearstained young face looking up at Steve in something like relief, and to his credit the supersoldier didn't back away from that broken gaze.

"I remember white." He told the boy slowly, watching with a certain satisfaction as Toushiro's sobs faded to soft whimpers. "I remember a loud, ringing crash and a sharp peal, like bells, as the metal of my plane hit ice, and suddenly the cabin was filled with snow and ice and freezing water…and I went under."

Toushiro coughed a couple times, his eyes still red and puffy, but he was calmer now.

"…you remember feeling like you were going to die." He whispered, and Steve nodded.

"Yeah." He said softly. "I have the nightmares too. Natasha can tell you about those – she's walked in on me after I've woken up from them before. It hasn't been pretty."

Toushiro looked to the lithe woman for confirmation, and she nodded slowly, glancing up at Tony, who was staring at Steve with a slightly stupefied expression on his face. The rest of the team hadn't known about how the ice had affected the captain – and now that he was one of the few 'in the know,' he was feeling a bit guilty for giving him such a hard time.

"How…h-how do you deal with it?" the trembling boy asked softly. "I…I've had a century. A _century_. A-and I'm still…still…"

Steve was silent for a long moment, his blue gaze downcast.

"It's not something that can really be dealt with, Toushiro." he said finally, his tone consoling and gentle. "PTSD is something you have to learn to live with."

Even through the miasma of tears and drowning grief, Steve could feel the walls slide up around the young captain's heart, and Hitsugaya made to pull away, made to close himself off. Steve, sensing this, reacted just in time, and without missing a beat he tightened his hold on the distraught preteen. PTSD was a touchy subject, then. Why?

"I'm not letting you go, son. I'm not letting you pull away from me." Steve's grip was firm, his face set .

"I don't...! I'm not...!" Toushiro began to struggle wildly, fighting Steve with vicious intent. But the superhero held on, embracing the boy fiercely as gusts of winter air tore through the room, as ice-cold light began to pour from the young shinigami's body, his reiatsu swirling violently. Matsumoto and Hinamori grabbed Natasha and Tony and pulled them out of range of the brewing winter storm just as reiatsu blossomed into ice, shards of diamond water freezing to Steve's skin.

The supersoldier sucked in a tight breath, trying to ignore the reminders of the glacier he'd crashed into even as the cold spread over his skin and numbed his bones. He tensed, but gritted his teeth and crushed the boy to his chest. Thoughts of Bucky drifted through his mind, and even as he had before, he found himself comparing his role to Bucky's in that moment - the buoyant pillar, supporting and steadfast. Over Toushiro's head, he glanced at Matsumoto and Natasha, willing them to understand. They did. Without an iota of protest, the two women hauled Tony and Hinamori from the room, locking the young commander's door securely behind them. If anything Steve said was going to have any effect...then they needed to be alone, without any other eyes. The young shinigami needed to understand that Steve wouldn't judge him - wouldn't betray his secrets.

He flared his windy reiatsu a little bit, trying to catch the boy's attention and soothe him somewhat.

"Toushiro, I'm with you to the end of the line." he said softly. "I'm never letting go. Not this time."

"I don't...I can't have...I'm not...not..." the snow-capped commander said desperately, panicking, and Steve understood then.

"My name is Steven Grant Rogers." he said gently. "I am a veteran of World War Two, and I have been diagnosed with moderate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ice, wind and snow give me flashbacks. I actively avoid wintertime missions in cold climates. But I am a Captain of the U.S. Army and a proud member of SHIELD. I am the liaison between Asgard, Seireitei, and Earth. I am the leader of the Avengers, and I am a part-time member of the SRD. I am _not_ weak."

His fingers starting to go numb from the cold, he reached out and took Toushiro's pale, trembling face in one hand. Calm blue stared into bloodshot, tear-filled green.

"You are Toushiro Hitsugaya - Hitsugaya Toushiro, if you'd prefer." Steve said. "You are a veteran and casualty of World War One. You have terrible nightmares. You close off your heart to make yourself seem strong. You used to hate humans. But you're the Captain of the Tenth Division of Soul Society. You're the Commander of the SRD. You're the host of the six Infinity Stones, and you're a Memory Sentinel. You're a part-time member of the Avengers. You're smart, cold, ruthless, courageous, and one of the most selfless young men I've ever known. You are _not_ weak."

Hitsugaya's struggles began to die away, but the frightened denial still stood in pools on his cheekbones and lips, a despairing puddle of rejection still dripping from his expression. Steve cupped the boy's cheek all the more gently, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the soft young skin beneath.

"PTSD can _never_ make you weak unless you _let_ it get the best of you, Toushiro." he said softly. "And maybe you don't have it - maybe you're just a distraught young man with a dark past and no one to share that terrible burden with. But even so...don't lock it in. Don't internalize it. You'll just hurt yourself, and everyone else around you."

Toushiro stared, eyes wide, quivering. That icy barrier was wavering, a vacillating, flimsy shield , and as the young shinigami offered up a tremulous protest, Steve cut him off and shifted the slender frame closer to his side until he could again feel the beat of the young boy's heart through his ribs.

"...I'm with you to the end of the line, Toushiro. Always."

And with that, tired, exhausted and overwrought by grief, Hitsugaya's last frozen wall broke.

He buried his face in Steve's shoulder, wrapping his arms around the taller man and clinging desperately to that strong back as his miserable life and death replayed on repeat in his head. He was sobbing again, crying so hard that he couldn't breathe, drowning in his own tears. His reiatsu dimmed, his conscious mind blurring with emotional pain, and before he knew exactly what was happening, he could feel Steve's fingers laced through his wild white hair, rubbing tiny circles in his scalp, murmuring soft, soothing words which had no meaning.

Toushiro closed his eyes, the dam's breaking draining his every reserve. He'd never had such a bad episode before. He'd never been so terribly shattered before - he'd always had enough control to push away the pity and help that others offered him until he could handle the festering agony on his own, but the combination of guilt and stress since Hinamori's arrival had finally worn him down.

"Shh." Steve murmured tenderly, rocking slowly back and forth again. "Shh...I've got you. It's okay, kiddo."

Small fingers tightened their grip on the supersoldier's suit, and Steve made a brief grunt of surprise. He hadn't expected the young man to be so clingy, but in retrospect, it made sense. The boy had lost so much - it was only natural for him to be terrified of Steve disappearing too.

"It's okay, son. I'm not going anywhere." he promised softly. Toushiro hiccuped a bit, trying to draw on his voice, but the words wouldn't come. And so the pair sat in relative silence for a while, the only sound the tired whimpers of the young shinigami's misery. Eventually, however, as the wee hours of the morning ticked away and the sun started to creep over the line of glossy pine trees outside the narrow barrack windows, Steve's calm presence paid off. Toushiro fell back asleep, his face stained with tears and blotchy, the death grip he had on Steve's suit loosening as he slid back into dreams.

Steve sighed deeply, debating what to do next for several restless minutes until he came to a decision and gently unhooked the sleeping boy's arms from around his neck and shoulders. Toushiro stirred a bit, the saltwater droplets still damp on his cheekbones, but didn't wake, so Steve lowered the preteen back to his pillows and tucked the blankets snugly beneath the boy's chin, smoothing the tears from the pale face, and left the room.

* * *

Any thoughts, critiques and questions would be welcome!

~avtorSola


	14. Lean on Me

**A/N:** I did it! I got the next chapter out! Yay! Should be smooth sailing from here (lol, I'm crying...T.T)

Anyhow, enjoy and review!

* * *

When Toushiro woke the next morning, the sun was high in the sky, pouring golden light onto the foot of his bed and warming his blankets. He blinked tiredly, oddly melancholy, and gingerly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He buried his head in his hands after that, feeling unspeakably awful, and with a jolt of terrible realization the dream from last night surged back into his mind. He choked, eyes watering, and glanced at the now-empty foot of his bed where Steve had sat last night.

" _Steve left..."_ He thought, rubbing at the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. A short whimper slipped from his lips, and he cursed himself, angry and upset at the same time. " _...toughen up, dammit...I'm so...so weak..."_

"...Toushiro?"

The young man started in surprise, almost instinctively lashing out at the source of his name, but a strong hand blocked his punch, catching his hand gently.

"Easy, son."

Toushiro's eyes widened.

Steve was sitting on the floor next to his bed, dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. A pillow lay on top of the round green rug, and a crumpled blanket had been pushed off to one side. He looked similarly tired, probably a byproduct of sleeping on the floor after returning from a difficult mission. His fingers were wrapped around Hitsugaya's narrow wrist, gently preventing the boy from moving.

"...Steve?" Toushiro asked incredulously, trying and failing to keep the tremor from his voice. Steve sighed and stood, sitting down next to Toushiro on the mattress and pulling the small captain in for a hug.

"Right here, kiddo." he confirmed. His expression changed a bit as the young man - now appearing to be more in control of himself than he was last night - ducked his head, curling his fingernails into his palms, the glistening beads of dampness in the corners of his stunningly green eyes. The young shinigami took a deep breath.

"...I thought...you would have gone back to your room." Toushiro said, his voice shaky. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"And leave you alone?" he asked, his tone somewhat disbelieving. "After how upset you were last night? I wasn't going to do that to you."

Hitsugaya allowed his white head to fall forward, his ear pressing to the clean cotton fabric just over Steve's heart. He closed his eyes on the tears, trying to quell the rising grief inside of him. He already knew that he wouldn't have the willpower to get out of bed today - he didn't want to be a sobbing mess on top of that. Last night had been different - the memories had been raw and frightening, as if he truly had been reliving the horror of his own death. But even though the recollection was fresh and oozing painfully in his head today, the fear was gone.

Only the sadness was left.

"...Thank you for staying." Toushiro whispered. The older soldier shook his head, shrugging off the thanks with a casual sort of modesty.

"You need someone to lean on, kiddo." he asserted. "Everyone does at some point in their lives, otherwise all the negative emotions just pile up until you can't handle them anymore and break down."

Toushiro huffed a little bit, a weak smile tingeing his expression.

"...You really know a lot about this." he said, his tone wavering between calm mirth and melancholic rage, the churning storm of emotions building up in his gut. Steve laughed a bit.

"Don't you remember what I told you?" he asked, the corner of his mouth twisting with slight amusement. "When you had that fit in your office and smashed your chair to pieces?"

The shingami's feet curled under the sheets, his ankles crossing restlessly. The blush on his face was unmistakable.

"...Shut up." he grumbled, sounding like his usual gruff self for a brief moment as the embarrassment surged across his face, the pink tinge on his cheeks warm against Steve's white shirt. The American sighed, unable to keep the smile from his face, quirking an eyebrow in question.

"So you've forgotten?" he asked, eliciting a growl from the ice-spirit before him.

"No, I haven't forgotten." Toushiro said. "...Your PTSD."

"Exactly." the supersoldier confirmed. "I went to a few therapy sessions to learn how to cope with and minimize its symptoms, and I was told that the best way to deal with the memories was to find someone I trusted with whom I could talk about it. So I did, and it helped."

Toushiro was quiet for a long moment, and then he starting chewing his bottom lip nervously, obvious mulling the statement over in his mind. Finally, he spoke, his voice quiet.

"...So...it helps ...to talk?" he asked softly, and Steve held his breath for a moment.

"Yes." he said after a second, his tone careful. If his suspicions were correct, he'd have to tread very lightly for fear of disrupting the shinigami prodigy's line of thought. Another brief stretch of silence followed the hesitant question. Toushiro's gaze stayed downcast during that time, sick at heart and suffering because of it. His head told him that he should _suck it up, weakling, because people die every day and you don't_ get _to cry and whine about it._ His head told him that _shinigami don't cry_. He knew that from past experience.

 _Captains don't cry._

But his breaking-broken heart sobbed that _oh, yes they do_.

And he'd spent so long frozen through. Hyourinmaru rumbled comfortingly in the depths of his soul, and for the sparest of seconds a tickle of frost swept over his master's cold cheekbone, the kiss of a snowflake, of a gentle winter as of yet unseen by the iced wastes of Toushiro's glacial soul. And deep inside him, something began to glow bright and pure and powerful, some hidden wellspring roaring into full flood.

Slowly, the cold crescent-moon in gleaming in the icy inner sky started to wax white.

"...When I start talking, I won't be able to stop." Toushiro murmured faintly, curling in on himself in Steve's warm grasp. His white hair shone softly, a gentle luster that made him glow dimly in the sunlight. The supersoldier shook his head gently, stunned by the trust that the young man was showing

"We have time." he reassured the smaller captain, checking over his shoulder to make sure that the door behind them was tightly shut. "You can talk to me for as long as you need to."

The younger - mentally - boy laughed softly, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"You have a meeting later, don't you?" he reminded the broader man quietly. Steve paused for a moment, then sighed and shrugged.

"You're more important." he said simply, starting to rub circles into the boy's spine, trying to help the tense ice-wielder relax. Toushiro had stiffened at Steve's declaration, the expectant, patient silence stretching between them once again, but when the pre-teenager began quivering against Steve's white t-shirt he also started talking.

"...I died alone..." Toushiro whispered miserably, trying to shutter his eyes on the tears. "... _alone_. And then I was alone in the Rukongai, and in the Shinou A-Academy, and even in S-Seireitei...I'm a Captain - I have to be strong _all_ of the time; I c-can't afford to show any weaknesses and..."

Steve didn't say anything when he felt the first little patch of dampness on his shirt, just kept gently massaging the taut muscles between Hitsugaya's jutting shoulder blades, and slowly it came out.

"...It's just so _lonely_ sometimes..." Toushiro's voice was small, the sadness in his voice palpable in the quaking of his tone. "...knowing th-that I can't t-tell anyone how much it _hurts_ me to be strong...how much it _hurts_ that Hinamori chose Aizen over me, how much it hurts that my own _mother_ rejected me..."

Toushiro wheezed out a choked sob, then gritted his teeth and pressed his lips together, trying to hold the tears in.

"...Nobody ever really wanted me, Steve." He murmured brokenly, the distress in his voice terrible to listen to. "My mother...H-Hinamori...everyone in Rukongai and the Academy...even in Seireitei, I...I'm nobody...without Hyourinmaru, without my powers...nobody would give...would give a shit about...about me..."

Steve looked down, sighed, and gently covered the younger boy's mouth with a warm hand, preventing him from continuing on that train of thought. Toushiro froze, the glassy green gaze sliding to the taller captain's face. One of his cheeks was a bit damp.

"I think I understand, kiddo." Steve said softly. "And it's okay. You've got us now - me, Natasha, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Clint - the Avengers. And you have Miss Rangiku and young Momo just waiting for you to talk to them."

Toushiro's gaze dropped a little bit, the saltwater brimming on his eyelashes again.

"I can't tell them anything, Steve." his voice a whisper. "Matsumoto...her childhood friend defected with Aizen and died trying to protect her. I can't burden her with my problems when she's still prone to drinking herself unconscious over his death. And Hinamori...too much has happened between us for me to feel comfortable around her anymore..."

Steve knew smiling was utterly inappropriate considering how wretched the white-haired shinigami felt, but he couldn't help it.

"Then you don't have to say anything to them." he said calmly. "But just know that you're not alone, Toushiro. They'd listen if you asked them to. And hell - you've been talking to me this whole time. Don't I count for anything, now?"

A faint, still-upset smile crossed Toushiro's young face, mirroring the expression on Steve's lips.

"...yeah, I guess so." the boy said quietly. "...It doesn't hurt as much, now that someone has...has actually listened. Thank you."

Steve ruffled the young prodigy's tangled white hair affectionately.

"I love you, kid." he said, his tone rough but genuine, watching as the stunned sparkle in those illuminating jade eyes burst into full fruition. "You're like the little brother I've never had - and family always sticks together. You can come and drag me aside whenever you need to talk, okay? I'll be here whenever you need me."

Toushiro nodded shallowly, stricken, and Steve tapped him in the center of his forehead with two fingers, smiling.

"Promise me that you'll come find me if you need to?" he asked, waiting. Toushiro swallowed, almost overcome.

"...I promise, Onii-san." he said, the disbelieving smile on his face twisting into a sob of relief, and he let himself cry for a moment, sitting huddled in his brother's arms. Steve murmured soft, unintelligible words of comfort to him, perfectly content to let the young shinigami crumple emotionally on top of the support he was providing. After all, that's why he was there. With his gentle mumblings, it only took a few minutes for Toushiro to calm back down, but when the young man composed himself he was less melancholy, almost peaceful.

"I've never had a real family before, let alone a brother." Toushiro murmured into Steve's shirt. "Just Momo and Obaa-san, who took me in after I arrived in Soul Society."

Steve laughed a bit.

"You have no idea what you've been missing." he said, a note of playful warning in his voice. "I had a 'big brother' of sorts when I was growing up, and we basically alternated between annoying the hell out of each other and being best friends."

Toushiro chuckled a bit, smiling, though he still seemed quiet and a bit withdrawn, clearly not fully healed by the long-repressed cry he'd had. Steve sighed, then slid his free arm under the boy's knees and lifted him up in one swift movement. The white-haired prodigy squalled in surprise, his grief fading in the face of his indignation, and he yelled as Steve dropped him onto his bed. The taller man laughed at the expression on his younger sibling's face, then reached into the preteen's closet and pulled out a royal blue pinstriped polo and a pair of khaki pants and threw them at the boy.

"Get dressed, Toushiro." he grinned, watching as the boy scowled like a thunderstorm, yanking the pants off his head where they'd landed. "I think I'll go get dressed and tell Miss Rangiku you're taking the day off."

"Steve!" Toushiro protested - it had been years since he'd last taken a day off, but the supersoldier just held up a steady hand, smiling.

"I think it would benefit you to have a day to relax, kiddo." he said placatingly. "If there's an emergency, I promise you can step back in, alright? I'm not holding you hostage."

The annoyance was still present on Toushiro's face, but it was more of a fond exasperation than anything now, and reluctantly the preteen's hands went to the hem of his sleepwear, pulling the shirt over his head.

"...fine." the shinigami gave in with none of his usual fight, averting his eyes, and Steve waved the young commander's sliding green door open, stepping out.

"I'll go change and let Miss Rangiku know that you're off duty today." Steve said, a gleam in his eyes. "I'll come back and grab you when I'm done, alright?"

Toushiro shrugged carelessly, still refusing to meet his elder brother's gaze. Steve sighed - the boy still felt down, as was expected. Hopefully the idea brewing in the back of Steve's mind would cheer the boy up.

:::

True to his word, Steve was back in about twenty minutes, dressed in a pair of jeans and a casual short-sleeve button-down, his dirty blonde hair brushed neatly. Toushiro - who was slightly red-faced - had also managed to clean himself up decently (though Steve didn't understand why the kid had chosen to pop his collar), however, there was one issue. For a moment, the older - mentally - of the two observed, something like disbelief in his eyes, and then he strode to Toushiro's bathroom, yanked the door open, and grabbed the pristine hairbrush lying abandoned on the white linoleum countertop. He held it up in front of Toushiro's surprised face.

"You've got bedhead, kid." he said bluntly, the simple sentence completely explaining his actions. Toushiro rolled his eyes, the gesture halfhearted.

"It won't lie flat on my head, if that's what you're asking me." the boy said quietly, his tone a touch annoyed. "It never has, and it never will. When it was shorter, it actually stood up in spikes."

Steve leveled the boy with an intense stare

"Running a brush through it from time to time might help, you know." he said dryly. "You look like you tried to smother yourself in your pillow while I was gone."

Something unnameable and slightly humiliated passed across the boy's face, lingering a fraction of a second too longer for Steve to miss.

"...Toushiro?" he asked carefully, curiously. The shinigami flushed a little bit.

"I...sort of did that." he admitted uncomfortably. "Just sat there with the pillow over my face, shaking my head. I was...I was trying to keep myself together."

Steve blinked, then let out a sigh, his expression a bit exasperated.

"The more you do that, the worse it's going to hurt you. It's okay to fall apart every once in a while." he scolded with a groan. "Now, come here. I'm going to see if I can't get rid of that rat's nest for you, since you're apparently incapable of doing it."

Toushiro rolled his eyes, the order grating on his nerves and pride, but he obeyed and stepped across the green rug to stand in front of his elder brother. Almost at once, Steve spun him around to face the far wall and started the brush the insane snarls out of the younger shinigami's hair. Hitsugaya winced a bit - Steve wasn't really being all that gentle - but stayed still, letting the bristles of the brush scrape over his scalp. It only took a few minutes for the older man to get the knots out, and without saying another word Steve returned the brush to his brother's bathroom.

"I think you'll be pleased to know that I've evicted the squirrel who was nesting in your hair." he teased when he returned, reaching out and ruffling the freshly-untangled white mop of hair. Toushiro rolled his eyes, then reached up and caught Steve's hand, pulling it away from his head with a steely grip on the taller man's wrist.

"And I think you'll be pleased to know that's I've caught the squirrel responsible." he fired back dryly, glancing meaningfully at the muscular wrist he'd wrapped his narrow fingers around. Steve chuckled.

"Oh, I suppose you did." he said, smiling, draping an arm over the ice captain's shoulders and guiding him towards the door. "Come with me?"

The young shinigami looked a bit uneasy at that, making it clear that he didn't really want to leave the room, but he acquiesced gracefully, the recent grief he'd had to suffer through again dulling the sharp edge of his stubborn independence. Steve escorted him away from the officers' living quarters and towards the mess hall, a smile beginning to spread wickedly over his face. Then he turned off before they reached the door to the mess hall, instead stopping before a clean white door, which Steve pushed open with a smile.

"I hope you like pancakes, kiddo."

Toushiro blinked in puzzlement, peering around the massive kitchen with some curiosity.

"Pancakes...?" he questioned softly, allowing Steve to herd him inside the room. Steve chuckled a bit at the incomprehension on the boy's still-wan face.

"Pancakes." he confirmed. "We missed breakfast, and Tasha claims that my pancakes have healing properties. I figured a good way to spend the morning would be making pancakes."

Toushiro swallowed hard, shifting uneasily.

"Er...the last time I was in a kitchen, I managed to burn water." he confessed, shamefaced. "...It's probably not a good idea for me to help if you want non-radioactive food."

Steve laughed and threw a large bowl at his younger brother, who yelped and caught the large metal hemisphere. A fond glint shone in the supersoldier's bright blue eyes.

"Something tells me that if I can teach _Natasha Romanoff_ to make edible pancakes, then I can teach you too." he said with a grin. "Go put that on the counter, then wash your hands. I'm not letting you run off."

Hitsugaya blinked, then realized something which should have been extremely obvious. The melancholy expression on his face dissipated, revealing a wicked smirk and an impish gleam in those intelligent emerald eyes. He set the metal bowl down on the countertop, still smirking puckishly.

"Oooh." he teased. "I think someone's keeping secrets..."

Steve stared, and Toushiro let his grin peel back his lips to reveal all of his white teeth.

"Natasha and Steve, sitting in a tree..." he started, using the inane ditty that Matsumoto had picked up in the Living World so long ago, and Steve was suddenly flailing in panic.

"Toushiro, it's not like that!"

"...K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage..."

Steve dropped the griddle he was holding on the kitchen counter and bolted for his younger brother, clamping his hands over the boy's mouth just in time to stop the teasing singsong from reaching anyone's ears. One person in particular, however, and Steve paled a bit as she walked through the door.

"Steve? Toushiro-kun?" Natasha said, her tone dripping with fake surprise. "I thought I heard your voices coming from behind this door..."

Snickering quietly to himself, Toushiro wriggled out of the stricken Steve's grasp. He bounced over to the redheaded woman, and with a gleeful smirk in his elder brother's direction he started the song over.

"Steve and Natasha, sitting in a tree..." he chanted, causing both people in question to blush furiously and avoid making eye contact. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes-"

"You little brat, get back here!" Natasha shouted as the white-haired shinigami flashed away from the annoyed couple when they tried to capture him. Suddenly he seemed to realize what he'd gotten himself into, and he turned tail and bolted, still snickering under his breath. Steve and Natasha chased after him, yelling denials and threats.

Toushiro darted out into the hallway, scattering a group of his flabbergasted subordinates - _how is the captain already back to normal?! -_ and dashed down the concrete corridor, Natasha and Steve hot on his trail.

It looked like the pancakes would have to wait.

* * *

 **A/N Part 2:** Before anyone bites my head off for Shiro's slight OOC-ness...I was pulling from his troublemaking sarcasm back in the Rukongai, when he spits watermelon seeds at Hinamori and the like. I figure after Steve's declaration of "you're family, kiddo" would shock his already unstable emotional state back to his previous childishness, if only for a little bit. Don't worry though, he's still everyone's favorite genius ice-captain.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!

~avtorSola

P.S. Flowering Lotus, I turned _Sorrowing_ into a two-shot for you - don't know if you saw that. ;)


	15. Unpleasant Business

**A/N:** And the truth comes out! I'm a Romanogers shipper! Woot! But...some news first.

1) This chapter is over 7,000 words long. It's the longest chapter yet. Ergo, next update might be a little slower to come.

2) Nobody has taken me up on this offer yet, but if anyone wants to write a oneshot for _Flashes of Color_ , please do so!

2.5) Or send me prompt ideas!

3) And I'm considering making a poll to determine which of several Shinigami/humans/Asgardians I can turn to Dvaoudar's side. Only certain people will be options to choose...but what's your opinion on that? Please leave a review and tell me!

Now, enjoy this mammoth chapter!

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking "_

 ** _"Japanese/Foreign Language"_**

"So, all it took was the kid to start teasing the pair of you, and you finally admitted it?"

Bruce's gaze was amused and he leaned back into the leather chair casually, his body language completely at ease. Hirako Shinji was next to him, his face unusually pleased. Bruce had managed to defeat his Inner Hollow with a mixture of wicked science and hastily-taught hakuda, and Shinji couldn't help but to take a lot of pride in that fact. Hinamori stood quietly at his back, still concerned for her younger brother - she hadn't liked being pulled from his room after he'd had that nightmare, but he sat at the head of the table now, wearing a headset that would allow him to communicate with Pine Team, which had just gone out on their first mission. Matsumoto was on his right, Steve and Natasha on his left, and it was to this latter pair that Bruce had spoken.

Natasha glanced down at where her fingers were entwined with Steve's, an annoyed flush rising to cover her face.

"...Well, considering how oblivious to relationships Rangiku has told me he is..."

"Oi, Matsumoto!"

"...I figured that if he knew, there wasn't any point hiding it." she finished. Steve smiled at her, glancing at his younger brother's indignant expression and Matsumoto's sheepish grin with some amusement.

"Tasha was the one who had a reputation to upkeep." he said, explaining succinctly. "Whereas it's pretty well-known that I'm a softy when not actively in charge of an operation."

A murmur of agreement went around the room, punctuated eloquently by a snort of derision by the SRD's Commander. It had only been two nights ago that the memory of his death had assaulted him anew, but he'd recovered with miraculous speed thanks to Steve's concerted, covert efforts. The general consensus among his men was that he was finally starting to forget the minor details of his past, but the Avengers, Matsumoto, and Hinamori all knew the truth.

"We're not here to discuss your relationship status, Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers." Fury cut in from his seat at the table. "We're here to discuss how to get the Commander into SHIELD without arousing suspicion."

Hitsugaya cleared his throat and nodded at Matsumoto, who pulled out a remote and turned the telecom screen in the corner of the room completely on. It flickered with a pulse of static, and frowning, Toushiro reached out through Tessa's AI framework and steadied the connection, the tattoo forming on his forehead in glowing blue for a brief moment.

Ukitake's image crystallized onscreen and he waved a jaunty wave.

 _~"Oh, Hitsugaya-kun!"~_ he said cheerfully. ~" _How are things for you?"~_

Hitsugaya inclined his head briefly.

"Very well, thank you Ukitake." he replied in his usual cool fashion, his heavy jade glare emanating power. "How goes the reinstatement of Central 46?"

Ukitake hedged for a moment, then ran a hand through his long white hair and sighed.

 _~"You were right, Hitsugaya-kun."~_ he said finally, grinning a bit apologetically. ~" _Your influence is indeed far-reaching now, but including you in our alliance was indeed a risky move on Yamamoto-sensei's part."~_

Hitsugaya smirked a bit, feeling the stares of his fellow shinigami on him and the confusion of his Avenger and SHIELD friends prickle over his skin.

"You mean to say that the noble clans are railing against my insistence upon splitting their power into a higher and lower house." he said, his tone deadpan. "I knew the creation of a representative body for the Rukongai with the power to check Central 46 wouldn't go over well with the nobles."

Ukitake shook his head apologetically.

 _~"Yamamoto-sensei supports your idea, which is likely why you haven't seen any assassins creeping around the SRD quite yet."~_ he said bluntly. ~" _Our coalition wields immense power, and many fear to outright oppose us, but we will need more support before we can quash the nobles' resistance."~_

"Will Kuchiki back us?" Toushiro asked sharply, and breathed a sigh of relief as Ukitake nodded.

 _~"Yes, in return for partial oversight in the choosing of the members new Central 46."~_ he said. ~" _I think we can add a provision for that."~_

"That's a shiny lure." Toushiro thought aloud. "Perhaps we can entice others of the noble houses with such a ploy?"

 _~"Consider it done, Hitsugaya-kun."~_ Ukitake was smiling now. ~" _But nevertheless, be on your guard."~_

The young captain chuckled lightly.

"I always am. Thanks for the update, Ukitake." the ice-wielder said politely. "Now, Director Fury claimed he had a way to get me into SHIELD without raising too many eyebrows while keeping my true identity secret.."

The Avengers and SHIELD operatives, somewhat relieved now the talk about underhanded darkness of Seireitei's political game was ended, sat up a little straighter and Fury opened a small, green, holographic cube, touching the side to allow a three-dimensional profile of Hitsugaya and several locations to glow in the air. His expression was serious, and a little miffed. He hadn't forgotten how the young shinigami had ordered him to leave the last time he had been in the SRD.

"Quite right, Commander Hitsugaya." he said politely, reaching up to tap the young man's profile. It opened quickly, revealing a data set of information very different from the confidential file Tessa protected in the SRD's database.

"This is your character." he said, his voice a bit drawling. "You're thirteen years old, born December 20th, and you've lived in a rundown, Japanese-speaking orphanage since you were three. Your father was of Japanese-Vietnamese descent, and your mother was half-Caucasian."

Toushiro winced a bit; it reminded him unpleasantly of his German life. But he nodded, his gaze narrowing to thin slits.

"Japanese-speaking?" he questioned, catching the discrepancy with eagle eyes. Fury glanced at him.

"Yes." he said guardedly. "The orphanage is Vietnamese in origin, and located in a very secluded part of the Vietnamese jungle where Japanese influence from World War Two still lingers."

Hitsugaya's face cleared, going a tad bit sour at the implication of the story, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Brilliant." he said softly. "I'm a product of the Japanese imperialism during that time, which will explain my half-Japanese appearance and my birth language, but...Vietnamese was a colonial power for a long time, so Caucasian men and women still lingered there..."

Fury nodded, glad the boy was understanding the leaps of logic required to follow the story. The others listened quietly, marveling at the complexity of the tale.

"The village your character lives in is a day's walk from a nearby town equipped with internet capabilities." he explained gently. "The orphanage you live in has arranged to take the older children - your character included - once every two months to augment the English lessons you're given there. You'll be hacking from those computer terminals."

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow.

"How am I getting into SHIELD Academy?" he asked smoothly. "As of now, all I see is a criminal or a terrorist."

Fury was silent for a moment. Then he took a deep breath.

"The next part you're not going to like." he warned. "We're going to have to put you in contact with a legitimate crime ring for the next part. You'll pay them by hacking various businessmen - Stark included."

Tony winced, but as Toushiro turned to him with a start of surprise, the billionaire threw up his hands.

"I volunteered." he said preemptively. "I'm supposed to wire money to Pepper pretty soon anyway - you'll work around JARVIS and intercept it."

"That's generous of you indeed, friend Stark, to aid the young captain." Thor put in solemnly. Toushiro nodded in agreement, his eyes narrowing.

"I haven't seen anything which I object to so far." he said casually, tapping his fingers on the polished wooden table. The slight movement was the only thing that belied his growing impatience. Fury sighed.

"The payment I mentioned previously is in return for the illegal transport of your character to the United States." he said, his tone a bit sharp. "Given that you are going to be operating through extremely covert means and we are going to need to know where you are at all times, you're going to need a tracker."

The young captain glared for a moment, his eyes narrowing, and the entire room shivered to feel the palpable chill of his ire.

"Get on with it, Fury." he snapped. "I don't object to anything so far, so spit it out!"

"Soul Society wishes for the tracker to be implanted, Commander."

The voice wasn't Fury's but Agent Hill's. She folded her hands beneath her chin while Hitsugaya stared, her lips pressed in a thin line. The customary headset she wore had been abandoned for the duration of the meeting, and with good reason - anyone listening in to their discussion on the off chance that her equipment had been tapped would spell disaster.

"Personally, I can see the appeal in the idea." she said tonelessly, her face and voice betraying nothing. "An implanted tracker would drastically reduce any chance that the tracker might be discovered, and it would also ensure that you stayed true to the plan. However, without your consent, SHIELD cannot condone the placement of such a device."

Toushiro's face was like ice, his expression utterly stony. He leveled a wintry glare at the onscreen Ukitake, a roaring challenge in his flinty emerald eyes. He didn't even have to speak before the sickly captain let out a long sigh.

 _~"Yamamoto-sensei's orders, Hitsugaya-kun."~_ he said solemnly. ~" _And he wants you to receive the tracker regardless. After speaking with Odin-sama several more times, he has concluded that your newfound power is simply too dangerous to go unwatched."~_

Hitsugaya's expression didn't change, but the biting anger in his voice was unmistakable

"I wasn't aware that the SRD was an organization under the jurisdiction of Central 46 and the Gotei 13, Ukitake-taicho." he said coldly. "Yamamoto- _san_ has no authority to order me to do such a thing when I am also a _soutaicho_ in my own right."

There was a crystalline silence for several moments, and Ukitake stared in shock at his younger counterpart. Even Matsumoto, who was well aware of the split nature of her captain's power, blinked rapidly, stunned by his hostility. Hinamori and Hirako gaped in astonishment.

"Toushiro..." Steve said then, his tone cautionary, laying a gentle hand on his little brother's arm. All at once the tension went out of the young man's shoulders, and he relaxed, casting a grateful look in Steve's direction.

"Please inform Yamamoto-soutaicho I respectfully refuse the implanted tracker, Ukitake-taicho." he said then, his voice a little clipped. Ukitake shook his head slowly.

 _~"Hitsugaya-taicho, you're too much of a danger to-"~_

"Ukitake! I am not a mindless Hollow!" Hitsugaya snapped, rising to his feet, Steve's caution failing in the force of his indignant fury. His eyes flashed multicolored with anger, the tattoo forming on his forehead in a paroxysm of rage, the gigai's concealing technique unable to hide it as his wrath grew. "I swore my life to the Seireitei decades ago, and I will _never_ renounce that oath. Do not treat me like an errant child who needs supervision! And furthermore, the next time that Yamamoto-soutaicho wishes to inform me that he would like me to relinquish my dignity and be chipped like a prize showdog, then he needs to speak to me himself! I will not lower myself and submit to this _insult_ of an _order_ , both for the pride of the Tenth Division and the Soul Reaper Division!"

For his part, Ukitake looked sufficiently abashed. Even though the man was a senior captain, he understood instantly that for Yamamoto to relay such an terrible order to the young man through a lesser-ranking third party was akin to spitting in his face and slapping him, regardless of the position the young man occupied. He bowed deeply, brown gaze somewhat downcast.

 _~"I will relay your sentiments to Yamamoto-soutaicho, Hitsugaya...Hitsugaya-soutaicho. Pardon the error in judgment we seemed to have made."~_

Slowly, Toushiro sat back down in his chair, his knuckles whitening upon the armrests of his chair. Frost spread from the tips of his fingers with glacial speed. He was clearly furious.

"Tracker aside." Toushiro snapped forcefully, pointedly ignoring Ukitake for the moment. "You mean for me to enter America illegally?"

Fury eyed the advancing sheen of ice warily and confirmed the statement with a bob of his head.

"Yes." he said, maintaining his calm despite the shinigami's emerald glower. "Once you are inside American borders, you will slip up. You're going to enter a library and use the computers there to attempt to hack the Pentagon. You will be caught, and when you show up to finish the job the next day, the FBI will be waiting to take you into custody. SHIELD will see your potential at this point and take control of your affairs. From there, you'll probably be bounced around from juvie to various SHIELD supervisors, when Steve will present a solution to the problem."

Toushiro's brows shot up, and he turned to his older brother with some surprise. Steve grinned a bit.

"To help out with this, I've been doing some quiet research on how to become a foster parent." he said, smirking a bit. "When SHIELD places you with me, people can hack my computer and see what I've been up to. It's a smokescreen."

The murderous expression on Hitsugaya's face changed substantially, his interest peaking suddenly. A smile played at the corner of his lips, and he glanced impishly at the older veteran.

"So I really am going to be living with you?" he asked, smirking. Steve nodded casually.

"Yes, you are." He replied easily, though his tone was bit worried. "Can you handle acting like a terrified, English-deficient boy for at least ten weeks?"

Hitsugaya's young face crisped into a sour frown, but he groaned and nodded.

"I suppose." he groused unhappily. Suddenly his eyes unfocused.

"I have a question - why am I hacking the Pentagon?" he asked curiously. "And don't they have a separate server anyhow?"

Fury and Hill exchanged a long look.

"...The trafficking ring which will smuggle you into the United States is an offshoot of Hydra." Fury admitted finally. "We have a sleeper agent within their ranks there, and he's going to be the one in contact with you the most often. Hydra has been attempting to hack the Pentagon quite a bit lately, and once they discover that you can bypass JARVIS - which they will when they see where their money is coming from - the second half of their payment will be to ask you to hack the Pentagon. And if you can bypass JARVIS, you can almost certainly establish a workable connection with a secure server. The Pentagon isn't SHIELD - their technology can be circumvented with some of Hydra's equipment."

Toushiro's eyes widened.

"No wonder you want me to have a tracker." he realized suddenly. "Hydra almost certainly has the technology needed to suppress or channel the powers of the Infinity Stones."

Fury nodded, folding his hands together, his single-eyed glare serious.

"Correct, Commander." he said. "Hacking Stark will get you recognition, but SHIELD isn't allowed to recruit minors unless they pose a security threat. You need to be caught successfully attacking a major cyber power before we can label you as such. Otherwise the most we'd be allowed to do would be to relocate you to a safe house, and that's not what you need."

Clint finally spoke up, his voice a little bit hoarse, and he coughed a few times to clear his throat before continuing.

"Are you sure you're against the idea of an implanted tracer chip, Toushiro?" he asked. Hitsugaya's face tightened, and he nodded stiffly. Clint watched this with some concern.

"Well, we need to keep a lock on your location if we go through with this." Clint worried, his brows furrowing. "And we can't give you something wearable either. Hydra would detect that in a heartbeat."

Toushiro's hands clenched into fists.

"I will _not_ let you people treat me like I'm an animal." he snarled at the archer. Clint raised his hands in a gesture of peace.

"It's not that bad, honestly." he said placatingly. "I've had an implanted tracer chip before. They're usually used for long-term, high-risk missions, which is exactly what this is. It's an easy insertion and removal."

That seemed to shake Toushiro's firm resolution for a moment, but then he quickly solidified his stance once again. He shook his head.

"I'm not an idiot just because I didn't understand human technology for a while longer than Matsumoto." the young commander said dryly. "I'm well aware that I would not be permitted to remove such a device should I allow its placement. Seireitei and SHIELD would be able to come up with some sort of excuse to that effect. It's simpler for you - and forgive me for saying this - because SHIELD considers you expendable. But apparently I'm too dangerous to even trust with my own damned safety _despite_ the fact that my power dwarfs all of yours combined by a vast margin. Hirako and Ukitake excepted, of course."

Clint winced at the pointed comment, realizing that the young man was well aware of his position, and Ukitake and Fury exchanged uneasy glances, knowing that such a scenario would likely come to pass. Then Thor raised his golden head unexpectedly, his eyes lighting up.

"My friends, I believe that my kin on Asgard may be able to provide a solution to this dilemma." he declared, placing Mjolnir upon the table. "On Asgard we often use devices made of biological material to track the location of criminals who have been placed on house arrest or prohibition from alcoholic drinks and like restrictions. The length of time such devices stay active varies, but all of these tracers do eventually decay, at which time the body breaks down the waste material and uses it for fuel. Would a tracer of this nature satisfy everyone present?"

Fury and Ukitake voiced their agreement in unison, and slowly Shinji agreed as well, throwing a glance at his younger colleague. Matsumoto wisely kept silent, knowing that it was solely her captain's choice whether or not to accede to the others' demands, but she did tap the top of her captain's boot with her foot, letting him know that she had his back.

The Avengers, however, remained somewhat neutral. Tony and Bruce looked fascinated with the idea, Clint and Thor appeared relatively pleased by the solution, but Natasha and Steve looked distinctly uneasy - though that may have been due to their close proximity to the ice-captain. They'd be first hit by the glacier of rage.

Toushiro swallowed hard, staring at the ridges of his narrow palms. He knew that his arguments had been drastically weakened by the revelation of Asgard's technology, but it felt so _wrong_ to agree to this. The idea of someone keeping tabs on him at all times both infuriated and unnerved him, knowing that his privacy would be invaded as long as the chip was planted under his skin. The denizens of Seireitei, leaders included, didn't have the _right_ to observe his every movement of every day as if he was some sort of invaluable artifact.

"...I still refuse, Ukitake." Hitsugaya said coolly. "And I mean no insult to Thor, but what you're asking me to do is both invasive and unethical. I can stomach a tracking bracelet of some sort, because I then know that wearing it is a choice. This takes my choice away from me, and furthermore, allows people I may not agree with to remotely monitor me."

Steve raised his head then.

"What if I was the only one tracking you?" he asked suddenly. "Or if only Lieutenant Matsumoto and I had access to the data from your tracer? We'd still be able to contact our superiors if anything goes wrong and you need to be pulled out, but you'd at least have some measure of privacy."

Hinamori frowned then.

"Would I be granted access as well?" she asked. "Shiro-chan is my brother, after all - I'd like to know that he's doing okay..."

Toushiro growled under his breath for a moment, then lifted his head.

"It's Hitsugaya-soutaicho, Hinamori." he complained. "How many times am I going to have to remind you?"

Hinamori just smiled at him, her brown gaze sweet, but she quickly turned her attention back to Steve, something like a desperate challenge in her dark cocoa eyes. Steve shrugged.

"Don't look at me for that, Miss Momo." he said kindly. "That's Toushiro's decision, if he decides to take the offer."

Hitsugaya lowered his head into his hands to avoid looking into Momo's pleading eyes and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. His headpiece crackled with Tachibana's voice, briefly reporting the success of Pine Team in eliminating three Hollows clustering around Las Vegas before going silent. And still Toushiro thought.

Finally, after intense debate with himself, he spoke.

"How long will the mission take, Fury?" he asked. The SHIELD Director touched another part of the holographic projection, bringing up a timeline.

"Between four and six months, or so it seems." he replied calmly, watching as the gears turned in the boy's brain. Hitsugaya bit his lower lip anxiously, then with a hard swallow, he conceded defeat.

"There's no other way to effectively hide a tracer from Hydra?" he asked. Fury shook his head, eliciting another sigh from Toushiro. His face appeared pained, his expression both helpless and angry, but mostly resigned.

"Steve and Matsumoto will each get access to the tracer's data, but only those two." he said finally, unable to meet Ukitake's eyes. "I don't want anyone else laying eyes on it unless I give my explicit permission. And I don't want the tracker to stay active any longer than the six-month timeframe Fury just gave. Those are my conditions for submitting to this...this _precaution_."

He said the word with some distaste, and Ukitake nodded agreeably

 _~"I will inform Yamamoto-soutaicho of your conditions and let him know they are non-negotiable."~_ Ukitake promised solemnly. ~" _I will also inform him of your reaction to his initial order so that the Gotei 13 may understand your position better in the future."~_

Hitsugaya nodded tiredly, unwillingly, and got up to leave, but a shrill protest from Momo made him turn back around to face her. She was clearly upset.

"Hitsugaya-kun, I want to know where you are too!" she said earnestly, her face worried. "I...I think I have a right to know where you are!"

Toushiro reached out and pinched the bridge of his nose again, scrunching his eyes shut.

"Hinamori, the only reason I'm letting Steve and Matsumoto have access is because first, Matsumoto is my second-in-command, and second, because Steve is the primary liaison I'll have between SHIELD and the SRD in the coming months." he tried to explain, keeping his voice patient. "And frankly, I don't even like that much."

Hinamori's face screwed up in distress, looking more upset than she had in months. It was clear that she'd seen through the explanation.

"Stop _lying_ to me, Hitsugaya-kun!" she said tearfully. "I'm not blind! You're shutting me out, and I don't know why, and all I want is for our relationship to go back to normal! You wouldn't have had a problem with me asking for this before everything went topsy-turvy and Aizen left."

Hitsugaya ran a hand through his white hair, trying desperately to keep his composure, but Tessa and Animen were whispering anxiously in his subconscious, disturbed by the power welling up beneath the hard lock he kept on his reiatsu.

"Aizen betrayed us, Hinamori." he said, fighting to keep his tone level. He wanted so much for her to understand how he felt every time he looked at her, but he'd stabbed her and he'd hurt her almost as much as Aizen had. He didn't have the right to be selfish.

"Aizen betrayed us, and _everything_ changed." he told her, proud that he had kept the howling anger - not at her, but at the circumstance - locked behind his icy walls. " _ **I**_ changed and so did you. We're not the same people anymore, Hinamori. It could take years before this...relationship could be anything like it was before. I'm sorry."

Hinamori stepped away, crestfallen, her eyes filling with tears, and without another word she drew her Zanpakutou, opened the Senkaimon, and fled back to Soul Society. Hitsugaya groaned when the doors closed behind her and faded away, burying his face in his hands. He knew that his inability to look at her and see anything but pain hurt her almost as much as it hurt him. But...he deserved the pain more.

Chasing her off like that left a bad taste in his mouth.

Steve's hand came to rest on his back in wordless support and for a long moment the room was utterly silent. Then the supersoldier spoke, his voice quiet.

"Captain Ukitake, Director Fury, are we done here?" he asked. When he received the affirmative answer, he glanced meaningfully down at Natasha, who promptly stood up beside him.

"Toushiro-kun, come on." the Russian woman said, sighing and moving towards the door. "Walk with me for a bit, won't you?"

Slowly, the young shinigami let out a long breath, then nodded, following the Black Widow outside of the long conference room. Steve glanced at Matsumoto, his expression completely calm.

"Miss Rangiku, I suppose you'll make sure that everything is ready for Commander Hitsugaya to leave later this week?" he asked lightly, relieved when the strawberry-blonde nodded agreeably. She sighed.

"Take care of my captain, Steve-kun." she said quietly. Steve smiled faintly.

"Of course." he replied. Then he was gone as well, jogging down the corridor outside to catch up with Natasha and Toushiro.

Onscreen, Ukitake looked at the open door with worry in his eyes.

 _~"Matsumoto-fukutaicho, is your captain alright?"~_ he asked mildly. Matsumoto shot a careful glance at Fury and hesitated, pondering over her answer before she replied.

"He's...he's okay, I think." She said haltingly. "He can handle Hinamori-chan's presence here better now that Steve-kun and Natasha-chan know how to work around that icy mask of his, but she...Hinamori-chan doesn't realize how badly she and Aizen destroyed the relationship between her and my taicho. He's trying very hard to keep her happy, but..."

 _~"He still feels guilty for what Aizen made him do."~_ Ukitake finished. Matsumoto shifted uncomfortably, her pink camo pants swishing against her legs.

"That's part of it, at the very least, but I think Taicho feels betrayed by Hinamori-chan a little bit." She mused aloud. "Because even after all this time, Hinamori doesn't hate Aizen for anything he did, and she still treats my taicho like a little boy. He feels belittled - he spent so much time despising a man that the girl he nearly died to protect still loves, and she won't acknowledge any of that. On top of that, the stress has triggered his flashbacks, which doesn't improve his temperament any."

Ukitake frowned, then glanced pointedly at Hirako, his face stern.

 _~"Hirako-taicho, have you noticed any behavior like that from Hinamori-fukutaicho?"~_

The Vizard shrugged carelessly, his face a bit annoyed.

"Can't say I have, Ukitake." he said nonchalantly. "Hinamori-kun's a model lieutenant and from what I can tell she cares quite a bit about Hitsugaya-taicho, but she seems to think of him as her little brother. If that's the issue behind all this, I can talk to her about it."

Matsumoto nodded gratefully.

"That's exactly the problem." She said, relieved. "Thank you, Hirako-taicho."

The Vizard shrugged.

"It's nothin' really." he said carelessly. "Aizen messed with that little firecracker's head about as much as he messed with the Hollow-Shinigami boundary. Victims of that bastard's evil should help each other out."

Bruce blinked.

"Aizen is the man who gave you your masks, Shinji?" he asked, surprised. The blond Vizard scowled deeply, his horse-like teeth grinding together unpleasantly.

"Yeah, not that the brat had our permission." the Fifth Division Captain snapped bitterly. "The bastard was my lieutenant before he Hollowfied me - I knew he was kinda a shady character, so I stuck him in my division, and the little sneak still managed ta pull a fast one on me."

Bruce looked somewhat appalled by the revelation and he turned his face away from the blond man, cupping his face in one hand.

"Bruce?" Tony asked, confused by the other man's revolted reaction. The half-Hollow scientist looked up slowly.

"How many lives did that man ruin?" Bruce murmured quietly, his gaze hollow. Onscreen, Ukitake sighed deeply.

 _~"A great many."~_ he said sadly, but then his voice became strong. ~" _But the Gotei 13 will not fall so easily. Already many of us have recovered."~_

"Toushiro hasn't though, has he?" Bruce challenged, causing Ukitake's gaze to harden.

 _~"Hitsugaya-taicho bore the brunt of Aizen's psychological torture. From what Unohana told me, it is likely that he will never recover - only change."~_ the sickly captain said, his tone bitter. ~" _It was hard enough trying to make that young man understand that he didn't have to wear a constant scowl before Aizen decided to toy with his heart. Unohana was worried if he'd be fit enough to return to active duty for a while - thankfully he was able to."~_

At that, Matsumoto smiled strangely.

"Ukitake-taicho, I don't think we have worry about my taicho anymore." she said. Ukitake looked at her, curious.

 _~"Why not?"~_ he asked. ~" _If I recall correctly, you were the most protective of him."~_

Matsumoto laughed softly, her face becoming gentle.

"He has Steve now." she explained simply. "Steve knows how it feels to 'die' in battle; he knows how awful it is to lose a close friend. Taicho can relate to him. And Steve...he's kinder than we shinigami are - he doesn't have to be a statue just to stay sane. Taicho can feel safe around him; safe emotionally. He's never had that before."

Ukitake blinked in surprise, then smiled warmly.

 _~"Perhaps it is a good thing that Yamamoto-soutaicho made him stay on the Helicarrier all those months ago, despite his acquisition of uncontrollable, dangerous energy."~_ the senior captain mused, smiling cheerfully. ~" _Not only has Hitsugaya-kun's hatred of humans been diminished greatly, but he's finally found friends willing to acknowledge him for what he is."~_

Tony raised an eyebrow at that.

"What he is?" the genius questioned curiously. "What, you mean you shinigami see him differently than we do?"

Ukitake sighed, his smile growing a bit sad.

 _~"Stark-san, when you look at Hitsugaya-taicho, what do you see?"~_ he asked. Tony shrugged, tapping his beard with a finger. Then he nodded, as if solidifying the picture in his mind.

"A brat of a young teenager who's too smart for his own good." Tony said simply. "A kid who's been through a lot and come out sharper than Natashalie."

Clint snapped his fingers and nodded, agreeing.

"Yeah, but he's sarcastic as hell." the archer said. "Amend the description to 'a cynical brat of a young teenager' to make it accurate."

Bruce shook his head.

"Brat and kid aren't the right words, though." he disagreed. "It makes him sound too immature. Try 'adolescent' or 'scoundrel' instead - those sound less infantile, and he's been through too much crap to be infantile."

"You have all forgotten his selflessness." Thor observed quietly, cutting the conversation short. "Young Toushiro is both brave and selfless as well as cynical and intelligent. He is caustic, but he is caring. He is jaded and world-weary, yet he also has some of the lingering frivolity of a child - as evidenced by his numerous jibes at friend Stark."

Tony scratched his chin in thought.

"All true, I think." he considered. Then his attention returned to Ukitake, whose sad smile had not abated in its melancholy. "Why, is that not what you see?"

Ukitake took a deep breath.

 _~"When I look at Hitsugaya-kun, I see the Captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei Thirteen of Soul Society."~_ he said, grief evident in his tone. ~" _I see ice, snow, a bitter winter blizzard of power and cold anger. I see a soldier; young, strong...and expendable. That is what it means to be a shinigami, and that is what Hitsugaya-kun has been living with. His captaincy makes him a valuable piece, certainly...but if he were an unseated man - enlisted, you might say it - then not even one of my colleagues would have an issue with sending him to his death. Do you see the difference now, Stark-san?"~_

Slowly, the billionaire nodded, his eyes wide.

"He's a _machine_ to you." he murmured. Suddenly he looked angry. "How can you see him like that? He's still a boy!"

Ukitake's face was resolute.

 _~"I believe that Hitsugaya-taicho has told you this, Stark-san."~_ Ukitake's voice was oddly unemotional, and from that single indicator alone it was clear that he most certainly did not agree with the status quo in Soul Society. ~" _But he is no longer a child. In swearing the oath of service to the Gotei 13, he gave that up. He has not been a child since the day his hands first touched the hilt of a blade, though many would tell you otherwise."~_

Tony shook his head in disbelief.

"Why'd you let him become a shinigami, then?" he asked. "If you knew what it was going to do to him, why would you people allow that?!"

Ukitake glanced at Matsumoto, and the busty strawberry-blonde lowered her head.

"His power was untamed, Tony-san." she said quietly. "It was cold, dense, and suffocating even before he had training. He became a shinigami because he had to do so to save his grandmother. He became a shinigami because otherwise, he would have been a murderer."

Fury and Hill started in surprise, but that was nothing compared to the horror on the other Avengers' faces. Shinji sighed and picked up Matsumoto's loose thread.

"Souls become shinigami for two initial reasons." he said grimly. "The first reason - becomin' a shinigami out of personal preference - is exceedingly rare. The second, however - being forced into it - is much more common. This is the path most of the Rukongai urchins come along when they get into the Shinou Academy. Hitsugaya-taicho was no different - and neither was I. He came to control his powers, me to escape starvation...the subtleties are endless. But in the end, it wasn't our choice."

Ukitake nodded in confirmation.

 _~"Soul Society is only a kind place for souls who have little spiritual power."~_ the man said sadly. ~" _They do not hunger or thirst, and because of this lack of need, they rarely require jobs, though many work simply for the fun of it. However, for those with spiritual power, life is difficult. Their stomachs growl, they grow dehydrated, and eventually if they cannot get food, they starve. The Gotei Thirteen know this and we unfortunately take advantage of it...but we have no choice. Without our actions, the Hollows would be able to devour humans and souls alike with abandon, and the balance of the worlds would flicker and fail, beginning the apocalypse. Spirits like Hitsugaya-kun cannot be ignored - the power they possess is too great to be wasted."~_

"You use him because you need him." Clint summed up succinctly, his tone dark, and Ukitake sighed.

 _~"I wish it was not so, but yes."~_ he admitted gloomily. ~" _The Gotei Thirteen needs Hitsugaya-taicho's powers. His youth does not hold any sway over our decisions. Besides, we are dead. Who can claim to keep their childhood after dying?"~_

"Toushiro is still but a child in the eyes of the Asgardians." Thor put in, his hands wrapped not-so-innocently around Mjolnir's handle, and Ukitake sighed.

 _~"It is not very different in Seireitei, but we cannot afford to care that Hitsugaya-kun is still technically a minor."~_ Ukitake said. ~" _Life is a gift, and we protect the living no matter the cost. I believe Hitsugaya-kun has expressed this sentiment to you before, Thor-san."~_

Thor quieted, and he shot a sharp look around the table at his Avenger friends.

"That is true." he said quietly. "Then it is a good thing that young Toushiro may seek refuge among his living friends, even if only for a time, and may find the same refuge in his comrades on Asgard."

Tony glared at Thor with something like disgust in his eyes, the expression mirrored on Clint's face.

"You can't possibly be okay with how these ghost-people treat the kid!" the billionaire exploded. Thor shrugged, looking around at Matsumoto, Fury, Bruce, and Shinji with something like resignation in his face. They already knew and understood his point of view.

"I have not the authority to change it, friend Stark." he said. "So I must act within the scope of my ability."

Fury nodded in understanding.

"Commander Hitsugaya does not answer to SHIELD or Asgard, Stark." he said warningly. "You cannot change an organization as ancient as the Gotei Thirteen unless you work from within."

"That leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Clint said miserably, pulling at his short brown hair. "He looks only a few years older than my kids - it's hard to see him any other way."

Matsumoto sighed.

"Think of how Steve must be feeling, then." she suggested mildly. "He and my captain have grown close, and he's already come to me in paroxysms of anger over Seireitei's coldness. My captain has taken pride in Seireitei's ways for too long for Steve's attempts to gain ground as quickly as he'd like, and the stress shows. My captain doesn't act like a teenager. He acts like a soldier."

The Avengers fell into an uneasy silence, and Matsumoto nodded cordially to Ukitake and Fury.

"My captain will report to Asgard in time for the placement of his tracker." she said, her tone formal. "And from there the mission to sneak him into SHIELD will commence as soon as his security is assured."

Fury agreed wordlessly, and Ukitake coughed harshly for a brief moment before regaining his composure and bidding the lieutenant and the Fifth Division Captain farewell. The meeting adjourned with no further conversation, only the slow simmer of unpleasant resignation from all present.

* * *

" _My lord, there is a man here who wishes to see you."_

 _Dvaoudar stiffened in surprise, his mandibles clacking sharply together. Thanos stood humbly in the doorway to his liege's thinking-room, his purple head bowed in something akin to obedience. Behind him, half-hidden in shadow, stood a figure dressed in white, the posture careless but rough, the shadow's scent dark despite the white of their clothing._

" _Then bid him step forward and face me." Dvaoudar hissed, displeased by the disturbance, but as the unknown man stepped into the light, his dark hair gleaming and his deadened eyes fixed firmly upon the six-legged creature before him, the evil being felt his interest rise. He'd seen this kind of being before, and he was excited to see them again - it meant his whispers were taking effect._

 _The hole through the base of the unknown man's throat winked emptily._

" _Are you Dvaoudar, the Destroyer?" the dark-haired man asked, his voice devoid of any human emotion. Dvaoudar nodded once, his fangs glistening black._

" _Are you a Hollow?" he asked a return question quickly, puzzled when the man shook his head._

" _I am an Arrancar." the dark-haired man said dully. "Aizen Sousuke possessed the power to elevate Menos Grande-class Hollows to completed Arrancar - a Hollow with shinigami powers."_

 _Dvaoudar's forked tongue hissed against his lips, and he smiled a pointed smile._

" _How wonderful. Why have you sought me out?" he asked, his tone growing impatient. The Arrancar didn't seem fazed._

" _I come for your assistance. My master wishes to join you, but the shinigami have imprisoned him. If you can provide technology which can work around his bonds and free him, he would gladly stand by your side." the dark haired man said succinctly. Dvaoudar appreciated his bluntness._

" _Who are you?" he asked. "And who do you work for? What can this man bring me?"_

 _The dark-haired Arrancar stared expressionlessly at the insect-like alien, utterly composed._

" _I am Ulquiorra Cifer, the Fourth Espada." he said. "My master is Aizen Sousuke, the former Captain of the Fifth Division of the shinigami army. And he possesses immense power and strong subordinates. Should you free him, the armies of Hueco Mundo will be at your disposal."_

 _Dvaoudar felt a slow smile spread across his face. So he had a shinigami now, did he? This was a stroke of good fortune._

" _I see..." he hissed. "Then tell me, Ulquiorra Cifer...what can I do to free your master?"_

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh yeah. I went there. Ulqiuorra's still alive and kicking! (because author god-powers brought him back)

Tell me what you think in that little box down there! ;)

~avtorSola


	16. Acceptance

**A/N:** So I wanted this to be Hitsugaya-kun's birthday present, but I realized that this is really, really late, so it's a day early! Happy birthday, Hitsugaya-taicho! (I'm just being respectful because it's his birthday tomorrow)

Also, I have made a poll - the one mentioned in the A/N last chapter. Please vote on it. And be warned. Some people will be turned regardless of what happens. But for some, I'm giving you lot a choice - because you lot are fantastic.

On another note...this chapter is 10,417 words long. Hell yeah!

Enjoy!

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking"_

 _ **"Japanese/Foreign Language"**_

He took a deep breath and stretched, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. The reishi-saturated air felt good in his lungs, like a breath of fresh air after being trapped in a stale closet for so long. The SRD's compound, while possessing a higher reishi concentration in the air than almost any other place on the globe save Karakura Town, couldn't compare to the rich atmosphere of Soul Society.

"Hitsugaya-taicho!"

The men at the Senkaimon's entrance saluted sharply as he stepped lightly from the glowing portal, his haori a white cloud of authority about him. Then Steve, blinking, stepped from the portal behind him, as did Eighth Seat Nagasawa. Toushiro half-turned, directing his left shoulder out, and several of the Kido Corps members in charge of the gate murmured at the sight of the SRD's simple white logo on the short sleeve of his bulletproof bodysuit. It had been SHIELD's idea to create a logo, and Matsumoto had only just finalized the design, so it was relatively unfamiliar to the Kido Corp members.

The logo consisted of six small circles to represent the Infinity Stones arranged in in a ring, connected to each other by a simple, solid line. In the center of the ring which they formed was an intricately embroidered dragon. Steve had the same logo embroidered on the front pocket of his shirt, but an eagle had been enclosed by the ring instead of a dragon to denote his rank in the SRD.

" _ **Nagasawa, go to the Tenth and tell me how Third Seat Takahashi is managing."**_ Hitsugaya ordered calmly, striding past the members of the Kido Corp to reveal that the six-Stone ring of the SRD had been embroidered in jet black on the back of his haori around the rhombus containing his division number. Nagasawa bowed - the same symbol was stamped on the back of his shihakusho in white, containing a coiled viper.

" _ **Yes sir, Hitsugaya-taicho. Have you any orders for Takahashi?"**_

" _ **None at this time. Let her know I'll be there for inspection after the captains' meeting."**_

" _ **Yes sir."**_

Nagasawa vanished in a flicker of Shunpo, and Steve trailed after his younger brother as the boy walked away, his expression somewhat uncertain. A man named Kisuke Urahara had given him a translation bracelet for all the Japanese he would encounter while in Soul Society, so this was his first time seeing Toushiro acting fully in his familiar old role as the Captain of the Tenth Division. He had to admit, the young man cut an impressive figure for one so small.

Toushiro turned to him, lips quirking a bit, and waved a hand carelessly.

"At my side, Steve, not behind me." he said, jade stare glinting. "You're not here as my subordinate."

The supersoldier nodded, understanding, and quickened his pace just a bit until his steps were level with the ice captain's. The edges of Hitsugaya's pristine haori whispered about his booted ankles.

"So what's the meeting about?" Steve asked curiously, glancing around the wide, clean streets of Seireitei and marveling as, without fail, every shinigami he saw bowed deeply to Hitsugaya, murmuring respectful greetings, and continued on their way. Toushiro shrugged, nodding an acknowledgment at the latest of these latest shinigami.

"Most likely the SRD's position in the Gotei Thirteen's politics, considering that you and Kurosaki were invited as well." Toushiro replied, his smooth English transition baffling the shinigami who had just greeted him. The pair swung casually around a corner, slowly making their way towards the First Division.

"Kurosaki?" Steve asked, and Hitsugaya sighed.

"Kurosaki Ichigo. You worked with him in New York, remember?"

Steve's face cleared, and he tapped at the round shield on his back, the satisfying _ting_ fading into Soul Society's reishi-rich atmosphere.

"Oh, Ichigo." Steve said nonchalantly, now connecting the surname with the fiery young man he'd once fought alongside all those months ago. "I thought he wasn't part of your organization."

Toushiro nodded a confirmation, flitting lightly up a short series of white steps, the inherent grace in his movements suddenly clear as day. His white hair shone, and with a quick sweeping glance around the area, the young captain smiled.

"Nah, he's not, but I might try to coerce him into working for the SRD later. I can be... _persuasive_ when I want to be." the ice-captain said, his frosty aura melting into acerbic, devilish playfulness now that the scattered reiatsu of the low-ranking shinigami around him had dispersed. Steve found a smile break out over his face.

"You can be a really cute kid when you put your mind to it, you know." Steve said, his tone fond. Toushiro's expression started to close off, but before he could completely withdraw his mirth, Steve had draped an arm over the young man's shoulders.

"Compliment, Toushiro." he clarified, sighing. "And cuteness doesn't imply weakness."

Toushiro frowned.

"In Seireitei, it sort of does." He countered, raising an eyebrow. Steve mirrored his expression.

"I didn't realize my name was Seireitei." Steve said dryly. "Besides, think of the relationship I'm currently in. If I thought that cuteness implied weakness, Natasha would've castrated me by now."

Toushiro's fractional smile returned, illuminating that brilliant jade glow shining from his young face.

"Touché." the young captain said, lips twitching. "But for the love of _god_ , don't call me cute within earshot of _any_ living creature."

Steve laughed, startling yet another shinigami as the taicho-human pair strode confidently through the gates of the First Division.

"So it's a free game here, right?" he asked, grinning. "Since everyone here is...well, you know..."

"Steve!"

"I'm teasing you, kiddo." the taller man laughed, highly amused by the sulky glower forming on Toushiro's face. "I know what you meant."

"You damn well better." Hitsugaya muttered mutinously, but Steve could tell that the annoyance was fleeting, more of a childlike embarrassment than true irritation, and so he felt completely comfortable running his hand through the soft white hair on his younger brother's head. And Toushiro glanced up at the tall soldier, his mouth quirked into a slight smile.

"Get that squirrel off my head." the young captain said, smirking, remembering the brief confrontation over his messy hair which had happened the morning he'd first called Steve _brother._ For a moment both older and younger siblings were quiet, and then both started laughing. Steve tousled the boy's white hair again, his mouth curled in a smirking grin, and Toushiro's fair-skinned cheeks turned a bit pink, but he smiled as well.

By the time the two arrived outside the meeting room, where a few other captains were milling around aimlessly, Hitsugaya had returned to his cold, composed self, and Steve had donned a serious expression as well, somewhat nervous for the meeting. Toushiro had explained the stiff formality earlier, accompanied by a delicate warning for Steve to allow him to conduct himself entirely without reprimand. Steve had protested a little bit, bewildered that the young shinigami would think it necessary to warn him of such a seemingly obvious thing - any officer of high rank would obviously resent to be corrected by someone other than a superior officer.

But the fact the Toushiro had issued such warning...Steve had possessed plenty of time to think about it, and he didn't like the picture he was getting at all. If the young captain had felt the need to warn him, then it was pretty clear that Steve could entirely disapprove of the way shinigami conducted their affairs, especially when related to Hitsugaya.

" _ **Hitsugaya-taicho, I understand that you are going on an undercover mission shortly."**_

The pair turned to the speaker, a small woman with a cold face and sleek, short black hair. Hitsugaya nodded at her, then glanced at his brother.

"Soifon-taicho, Commander of the Onmitsukido and the Captain of the Second Division." the ice-wielder murmured to Steve as a means of brief introduction. Then he replied politely to Soifon, confirming her statement and accepting a few tips that the small woman had for him. Steve listened closely, impressed by the depth of Soifon's knowledge. Then the svelte woman fixed a piercing slate glare upon him.

" _ **Who might**_ **you** _ **be?"**_ She demanded, her expression stern. Steve wanted to raise an eyebrow at her bluntness, but he chose to ignore it in favor of upholding Toushiro's unspoken expectations.

"Captain Steve Rogers of SHIELD and the SRD, Level 8+." he said, his tone neutral. "And you are Captain Soifon, yes?"

The small woman inclined her head, her eyes narrow. Toushiro had reassured Steve that all of the captains understood English, as the bracelet did not give him the opportunity to speak Japanese, but he had been marginally worried that he would be misunderstood at some point. That could prove troublesome for Hitsugaya, if nothing else.

Suddenly, the wide double doors opened, and the captains began to file inside, the myriad white of their haoris billowing. Toushiro shot a quick glance at Steve.

"We're going to line up in two parallel rows, and you're going to stand across from the Captain-Commander with Kurosaki, whenever he shows up." the young man said calmly. "And remember, keep your reiatsu under control to the best of your ability. It's a mark of pride among the shinigami to be able to remain in control of oneself at all times, and releasing reiatsu during a captains' meeting is strictly prohibited for us. You and Kurosaki aren't subject to the same rules, but if you can deal with everything we say without a flare-up, you'll earn respect."

Steve nodded.

"I think I can do that." he said, smiling a little. "Should we go in?"

Hitsugaya grimaced, glaring into the dark opening, but nodded his confirmation and stepped through the doors. He peeled away from Steve's side almost immediately, heading towards the empty space between a man wearing a straw hat and a flowered kimono over his haori, and a man with an inordinate amount of face paint which Toushiro had once spoken with via teleconference on the Helicarrier. Once in place he closed his jade eyes, affecting an unnaturally cold look that seemed entirely too natural on his young face.

Across the hall, Yamamoto stood proudly, leaning on his cane, and the twin rows of captains paralleling the lengthy wooden walls stood in solemn silence for a long moment. Then Steve felt the back of his neck prickle, a glaring dark wildness rimmed with flicker of shrieking speed ghosting up his spine, and with a burst of soft Shunpo, Kurosaki stood on his right. With a start, Steve understood that this sensation, like Miss Rangiku's hissing, pantherlike cinders or Toushiro's unyielding, arctic crispness, was little more than Ichigo's reiatsu. He studied it for a few moments, trying to memorize the feeling, but was startled from his thoughts by Yamamoto's slow rumble.

" _ **Before I begin,"**_ he started, his tone contemplative. " _ **I would first like to apologize to you for any rudeness on my part, Hitsugaya-taicho. Conveying distasteful orders to you through a third party was inappropriate."**_

Toushiro lips curled in brief disdain, but his young face displayed his shock too clearly for the anger to hide. Steve blinked, and next to him, Ichigo let out a low breath in astonishment. Apparently Yamamoto rarely apologized, then.

" _ **It was."**_ Hitsugaya said sharply, eyes narrowing, his pointed backtalk causing the other captains in the room to flinch somewhat. " _ **But given the circumstances, I am willing to overlook it. We have reached an agreement on the subject of an implanted tracer now, and at this point I consider the subject entirely closed."**_

Yamamoto eyed the young man carefully, a flicker of flame dancing in his single open eye, but the white-haired teenager refused to back away from that heavy stare, meeting the glimmer of hot anger with his own cold fury. The warning in his pressed, thin lips and narrowed glare was unmistakable, and to Yamamoto's credit, the old man responded diplomatically.

" _ **Then let us move on to what we originally met to discuss."**_ the Captain-Commander said decisively. " _ **The status of the SRD in alliance with the Gotei 13, and Hitsugaya-taicho's upcoming mission. Hitsugaya-taicho, you have expressed that the SRD is an organization entirely independent of the Seireitei, have you not?"**_

Toushiro's icy expression remained immovable.

" _ **No, I have not."**_ he replied. " _ **I merely stated that the SRD does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Central 46 or the Gotei 13. That does not imply it is independent of Seireitei - after all, several of my men possess dual rank, as do I."**_

Suddenly, the man in the flowered pink kimono standing next to the ice-spirit spoke, his drawling voice measured and calm.

" _ **So what's your take on its status, Hitsugaya-kun?"**_ the bearded man said, his straw hat pulled low over his brown eyes. " _ **After all, you're the Commander."**_

" _ **My view is that the SRD and the Gotei 13 are allies."**_ he said slowly, his tone even. " _ **We share the responsibility of keeping Soul Society a secret and ensuring that humans are not unduly troubled by Hollows. In addition, the SRD is the liason organization between Earth, Asgard, and Seireitei, and thus must abide by the cooperative law between those three powers. However, our primary function is to monitor groups and items which have the power to cause worldwide catastrophe, as well as monitor those individuals which may have the power to develop Fullbrings, as Steve, Bruce, Samantha Pointe, and Finbar Callaghan have. Therefore, our goal is not to enforce the laws of Soul Society, and thus we are not held accountable by the laws of Central 46 or the regulations of the Gotei 13."**_

Steve, Kurosaki, and the others considered this for a long minute, but as the contemplation continued, the small woman - Soifon - spoke up, her voice cold.

" _ **So the SRD is akin to the Onmitsukido, then, but without direct oversight from Seireitei."**_ she said, her eyes narrowing.

"That's correct, Captain Soifon." Steve said, taking over the explanation for Hitsugaya and exchanging a brief glance with the snow-capped child. "After all, Agents Pointe and Callaghan have no knowledge of Soul Society - as far as I'm aware, they believe that Toushiro is some sort of alien being - correct?"

Hitsugaya nodded approvingly.

" _ **The official explanation is that I and my subordinates are an alien species with near-human DNA and the ability to convert our stamina and bodies to a pure energy form - which is why the majority of humans cannot see us. The excess energy is then channeled through our Zanpakutou, giving us our powers. We've had contact with Japan in the past, which is why the Japanese language is a spoken language on Earth, and why we have a soft spot for 'Earthlings,' so to speak."**_

Yamamoto nodded slowly.

" _ **Your reasoning for the distance from our is understandable under this context, but this poses a problem, Hitsugaya-taicho."**_ the old man said solemnly. Instantly, the ice-wielder tensed, and a stiffness rolled through the room. It wasn't reiatsu - true to his word, Hitsugaya kept a tight lid on that icy power of his - but rather an uncomfortable buzz of tension. The tattoo above his forehead flickered in multicolored anger, and the young captain took a deep breath and closed his eyes. For a moment everyone gazed at him in no slight concern, but then Toushiro appeared to calm, and the colors vanished. He sighed.

" _ **You worry about the Infinity Stones, I assume."**_ the young captain said dryly. " _ **Let me assure you, they're no trouble."**_

For the first time, Ichigo coughed, looking distinctly uncomfortable with speaking to the young captain. Steve, noticing this, frowned. The last time he'd seen the Substitute Shinigami, in New York, the orange-headed teenager had delighted in teasing Toushiro. It seemed that easy camaraderie was gone...but why?

" _ **Er...Toushiro, your tattoo just flashed..."**_ Ichigo said uneasily, his brown gaze fixed firmly on a point somewhere on the wooden floor in front of him. Toushiro frowned.

" _ **The six Stones view me as an older brother figure."**_ he replied, brows furrowing, and Steve raised an eyebrow at him subtly, flicking his gaze between the mops of orange and white hair in unspoken question. Hitsugaya shrugged in silent response, then continued.

" _ **Because of this, they exhibit somewhat overprotective tendencies when they feel I'm threatened. However, I've asked them not materialize their power except with my permission or when I'm unconscious, and in the latter case they are only authorized to perform strictly defensive actions."**_ the ice-captain finished calmly. " _ **I believe most here have witnessed this already, yes?"**_

There was an assortment nods and a few relieved sighs from the seniormost of the captains - Ukitake, Unohana, and Kyoraku. Toushiro threw them a faint smirk, a flicker of cool amusement playing predatory shadows about his lips. Then Yamamoto tapped his cane lightly on the floor, regaining everyone's attention.

" _ **I do not worry about the Infinity Stones, Hitsugaya-taicho. You know of the views which Asgard, Seireitei, and SHIELD hold concerning your newfound abilities. It concerns me more that you have been so adamant in refusing additional security."**_ the old man reproved sharply. " _ **Fury and I have been at odds over sending you on this mission. He believes that you will have enough security - I am of the opposing opinion. Your hostility towards a tracer has also raised concern."**_

" _ **I can handle myself and a few idiotic humans."**_ Toushiro snorted derisively, distaste ghosting across his face, and Steve was sharply reminded of the vehement hatred the boy had once felt towards his former race. " _ **I am the Commander of the Soul Reaper Division, and the Captain of the Tenth Division of Soul Society. I do not and will not ever require a**_ **bodyguard.** "

He spat out the last word with such disgust that a few of the other captains visibly flinched.

Pride and honor by extension were focal points in Seireitei, and for anyone from the unseated men of the Fourth to the Captain-Commander to bear an insult to their pride without some form of retribution was unheard of. One did not injure another's pride without good reason, and even then retaliation was likely expected. This meant allowing men to fight their own battles even when hopelessly outclassed and permitting others to commit seppuku if they felt that permanent dishonor had stained them. It was uncommon for these traditions to be exercised, but they were followed strictly.

"Toushiro, you know that's not the point." Steve said, his face sliding into annoyance. "I've talked to you about this already."

Hitsugaya crossed his arms over his chest, his expression frigid. It was clear that he did not appreciate Steve's interference one bit.

" _ **I agreed with you because I am well aware of the difference in power between us."**_ Toushiro said coldly. " _ **All threats which will pose an actual challenge to me will be able to overwhelm any defense which the Earth can offer - including the Avengers. Seireitei however has an entirely different spectrum of resources."**_

Steve felt cold suddenly, a spark of hurt kindling in his chest. So that had been the reason that the boy had given in so easily to begin with, had it? A slow anger started to simmer across his face, and his blue eyes narrowed.

"Is that so, _Captain?_ " he asked, his voice dangerous. Toushiro blinked, not expecting the sarcastic reply nor the deep upset. Yamamoto raised an eyebrow, but remained silent, watching the supersoldier with a calculating air.

"None of this has anything to do with your _insecurities_?" Steve continued, oblivious to the scrutiny of the other captains. "None of this has anything to do with your desperate _need_ to prove yourself capable? To prove that you're not a child? Because from what I've heard, this stubborn pride is _exactly_ what enabled Aizen to manipulate you so easily."

Hitsugaya's face went white, and he snarled.

" _ **I'd suggest you hold your tongue, Steve."**_ he spat, but Steve scowled deeply.

"To hell with you and your damned pride, Toushiro!" he all but shouted, his brows knitting together over his face. "You know _precisely_ what your obstinacy will do if anything out in the universe finds out about you - and mark my words, something will eventually! The Earth _can't handle_ another alien invasion right now, and even if we could, the moment you're captured we've lost!"

The ice-captain scowled back, anger flitting across his face, a helpless, searching anger which raged unsteadily on his face.

" _ **Like hell you've lost, idiot!"**_ he seethed. " _ **There are twelve other people in this room alone which are either equal or superior to me in strength, and you think you've lost if I get myself**_ _ **captured**_ _ **?!"**_

" _ **Hitsugaya-taicho, Captain Rogers is telling the truth when he says that your capture would spell our death."**_ Ukitake interjected quietly. " _ **Have you forgotten what the Infinity Stones are capable of?"**_

That silenced Toushiro, but the young man still smoldered furiously, and after a moment he growled out.

" _ **I wouldn't let myself be captured, Ukitake. You know that."**_ he said, his voice eerily calm.

" _ **You may not be given an option, Hitsugaya-taicho."**_ Yamamoto rumbled then, his voice dark with a nameless threat. " _ **Your anger is understandable considering your temperament and the shape of your Zanpakutou spirit, so I will allow the breach of decorum to slide, but you**_ **will** _**obey if you are ordered to be kept under guard."**_

Toushiro's stance shifted to one of coiled aggression, a bitterly cold rage burning in his green eyes.

" _ **I am NOT a helpless child!"**_ he snarled viciously, and then Yamamoto lost his temper.

" _ **Enough, Hitsugaya!"**_ he roared, causing the young man to flinch slightly. Fire flickered at the edges of the old man's white haori. " _ **This rash of insubordination will not be tolerated! If you insist upon defying me, I will strip you of your rank and order you to be imprisoned and have your reiryoku sealed until you see fit to regain your senses!"**_

Steve choked a bit, the air growing heavy and hot around him, a stifling dryness rolling through the room, and he felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek. He swayed unsteadily, trying to remain unnoticeable. Next to him, Kurosaki winced, then reached out to steady the human supersoldier.

" _ **Deep breaths, Rogers-san."**_ the Japanese teenager said quietly. " _ **Yamamoto didn't mean to stifle you."**_

Then Ichigo raised his head, his brown stare flat.

" _ **Hey, Jii-san, you're turning Rogers-san into a pancake."**_ the carrot-top said. " _ **I get that Toushiro's being a selfish brat, but do you mind toning it down?"**_

The Captain-Commander paused, casting a critical gaze over the panting man, and without warning the pressure vanished. Steve stumbled forward, nearly falling over, but Ichigo's grip on his upper arm and chest kept him upright. Toushiro's head whipped around to stare guiltily at the supersoldier. He'd entirely forgotten that Steve's reiatsu wouldn't be able to withstand Yamamoto's anger.

Ichigo shot a black look his direction.

" _ **Toushiro?"**_ he asked tightly.

" _ **It's Hitsu-"**_ the white-haired boy began, but Ichigo's reiatsu flared sharply, a quick burst of annoyance passing over his already-furious face.

" _ **I don't give a shit. You don't deserve to be called a taicho right now, much less hear any sort of respect from me."**_ Kurosaki spat, his eyes narrowing, startling many of the captains in the room with his sudden ire. " _ **I mean, do you even hear yourself? You're worried about your goddamn pride when the fate of the entire world could be at stake? You're worried about your fucking**_ **pride** _**when this could mean life or death for**_ **billions** _**of people, let alone animals and insects and other aliens? What kind of man are you to be that selfish, Toushiro?! The only other person I know that could have**_ **possibly** _ **been that cold was Aizen!"**_

The ice-captain stood stricken, lost for words, and without warning Steve spoke up, his face a bit twisted by - was that pity?

"Ichigo, don't compare him to Aizen." Steve requested quietly, something nameless but understanding glowing in his face as he gazed sadly at Toushiro. "He's not like that."

" _ **You speak as if you know something we don't."**_ Unohana noted curiously. Steve shot her a glance, then returned his attention to Toushiro's face, which had paled considerably. He considered for a moment, turning over his next words in his mind, and slowly, Toushiro started to realize what the man was considering. His eyes widened.

" _ **Steve-"**_

"I do know something that you don't, Captain...?" Steve said, sighing. Hitsugaya appeared to shrink at that, the jade of his gaze shining luminously. Unohana looked at him strangely, then followed his gaze to the human in question, who expression was unusually gentle, though saddened.

" _ **Unohana."**_ the Fourth Division Captain supplied. " _ **What is it that you know?"**_

" _ **Steve, don't."**_ Toushiro murmured, his reiatsu swirling slowly, gradually becoming palpable in the air around him. Steve sighed again, cast a reassuring glance in his younger brother's direction.

"Just a few things about Toushiro that probably aren't common knowledge." Steve said, his tone patient. "But it explains his resistance to this idea beyond the typical defense he's putting forth. So since he seems unwilling to explain himself, let me ask on his behalf that you not think too harshly of him. It's not simply his pride that he's fighting for."

" _ **What, then?"**_ said a whining drawl of a voice. Kurotsuchi was speaking now, his painted face contorted in a derisive scowl. " _ **What can the Tenth Division Captain possibly be thinking to resist these...precautionary measures?"**_

" _ **None of your business, Kurotsuchi."**_ Hitsugaya snapped coldly, withdrawing the wispy taste of ice that he'd let slip into the room upon Steve's declaration of practically-forbidden knowledge. Yamamoto slammed his cane down onto the floor.

" _ **It is our business now, Hitsugaya-taicho."**_ he rumbled, but his tone was unusually understanding. " _ **If you do not wish it to become common knowledge, then I would ask that you stay after and speak with me, but your antagonism is very troubling. You**_ **must** _**understand that the power of the Infinity Stones is not one to be trifled with. We cannot take chances with your safety regardless of what your pride dictates."**_

For a long minute there was silence, and then Steve broke formation and stepped over to Toushiro, setting a hand on his shoulder wordlessly. The young man blinked at him, startled, then lowered his gaze, something in him snapping irreparably.

" _ **...Alright."**_ he conceded quietly, knowing that he had no other choice. For a moment the room was silent, but then Yamamoto restarted the meeting, continuing on to discuss the current state of the alliance between Earth, Asgard, and Seireitei. Throughout all of it, Toushiro remained unusually subdued, his gaze fixed firmly on a point about a foot in front of his feet. He spoke only when spoken to, and his voice was toneless, a cool, dull murmur almost inaudible it was so passive.

Steve watched him, building worry in the pit of his stomach. Finally, however, Yamamoto turned to his youngest captain with a forceful stare.

" _ **Hitsugaya-taicho, I believe you had a proposition for Kurosaki?"**_ the old man reminded, his gruff voice laced with a hint of concern. Toushiro remained silent for a long, uncomfortable minute, then raised his head incrementally.

" _ **Kurosaki, if you're willing to move to Canada, there is a position in the SRD open for you once you graduate high-school."**_ Toushiro said, his voice still oddly toneless. " _ **It would enable you to remain a part of the human world while utilizing your reiryoku in a positive fashion."**_

Ichigo blinked at the thought, then a slow, thoughtful smile spread across his tanned face. His brown eyes gleamed, a wordless spark of slowly-kindling excitement burning through his outward calm.

" _ **...I'd still have a normal life?"**_ he asked carefully. Hitsugaya shrugged, unwilling to make any of the usual snappy retorts he'd come up with.

" _ **You'd have as normal a life as a SHIELD Agent has."**_ the ice-wielder explained passively, but Ichigo ignored the flat quality of the white-haired boy's voice and let out a fractured laugh.

" _ **Brilliant."**_ the hybrid cheered quietly. He threw a grateful smile in Hitsugaya's direction. " _ **Thanks, Toushiro. That...that's solved a huge problem I've been having with my family."**_

Toushiro curled his shoulders, unable to meet Ichigo's gaze and let out a small 'hn' of acknowledgment. Steve bit his lower lip, watching his younger brother anxiously - and he wasn't the only one who'd noticed the ice-captain's oddly quiet behavior. Kyoraku, Ukitake, Unohana, and even Kuchiki were glancing concernedly at their youngest colleague.

" _ **This meeting is dismissed."**_ Yamamoto intoned formally, and the captains began to drift from their rigid lines. " _ **Hitsugaya-taicho, if I may speak with you privately."**_

" _ **Yes sir."**_ Toushiro said listlessly, but then Steve stepped forward and curved an arm over the ice-captain's shoulders.

"Will you let me tag along, Toushiro?" he asked, trying not to let the concern creep into his voice, but when that familiar wry glint of teal shone in Hitsugaya's jade eyes he knew he hadn't been successful.

"...Alright." he acquiesced wearily, unconsciously pressing closer to the tall soldier. It was a gesture that no one missed. Yamamoto opened one eye in surprise, then wordlessly motioned for the pair to follow him from the hall. Ichigo watched them go for a moment, staring after Toushiro with something like trepidation and guilt in his brown eyes. He hadn't been thinking clearly when he'd accepted the SRD job.

How the hell was he going to hide _that_ from Hitsugaya?

* * *

Yamamoto led Steve and Hitsugaya to a small, plain room adjoining his office which contained only a low-slung table and a stack of soft cushions. He motioned for them to take a cushion and sit, which they did - albeit awkwardly in Steve's case. Then he lowered his creaking old bones to another cushion across the table from the ice-spirit and his biting-wind elder brother.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, do you understand the situation that you're in?" the old man asked calmly, though judging by the twitching of his bushy eyebrows he was a bit more anxious than he let on. Toushiro folded his hands docilely in his lap, gnawing on his lower lip.

"Yes sir." he admitted, his knuckles whitening over his haori. Steve began to rub small circles into his brother's back, his blue stare both stern but kind at the same time. Yamamoto watched for a moment, then sighed.

"Then you do realize the danger you've placed us in?" Yamamoto asked calmly. Hitsugaya tensed, but after a long moment's pause he nodded.

"Yes sir." he whispered. Yamamoto nodded once, as if expecting the response, and with a sharp, warning glance in Steve's direction he continued.

"How many times was an attempt made on your life in the early days of your captaincy, Hitsugaya-taicho?" Yamamoto asked neutrally, staring out the window and over the Seireitei while remaining well aware of Toushiro's sudden freeze. A pulse of warm reiatsu brought the young man back to his senses. But Steve stayed somewhat frozen, shocked by the sudden question.

"How many?" Yamamoto repeated again. "The true number, not the faux reports you gave me. I was well aware you wished to deal with the problem on your own."

Hitsugaya ducked his head.

"Six, sir." he said quietly. Yamamoto raised an eyebrow.

"And you dealt with four of those assassination attempts on your own, I presume." the old man said then, his tone resigned. The ice-captain looked away, unaware of the rising nausea in Steve's stomach.

"Yes sir." he murmured, suddenly feeling very small. Yamamoto let out a long sigh.

"You refused my protection then, and you refuse it now." the old man said. "Do you understand that I will be forced to arrest you if you continue this nonsense? I allowed your dishonesty to pass when your actions hurt only yourself, but such is not the case now. If you force me to arrest you, I will have to do so by whatever means necessary. Do you understand what that entails?"

"I do, sir." Hitsugaya replied, his tone weary. "I can handle pain well enough."

"You damn well shouldn't have to." Steve growled out, his voice a biting undertone. Both Yamamoto and Toushiro looked at him in surprise, but as a current of cool, dry wind shifted about the room it became abundantly clear that Steve was on the verge of completely losing his cool.

"I agree with Captain Rogers." Yamamoto agreed after a long pause. He fixed Hitsugaya with a steely gaze. "Hitsugaya-taicho, why is it that you are so adamant that there is no guard set over you?"

Toushiro fidgeted and looked away uneasily, so Steve took it upon himself to answer.

"He's afraid, I think." the supersoldier revealed, causing a sharp call of protest to roll from the young man's mouth, but both Yamamoto and Steve ignored Toushiro's outburst. The Captain-Commander leaned forward.

"Afraid?" he asked, baffled. "For the Soul King's sake, afraid of what?"

"I don't need protection!" Toushiro shouted finally, losing his cool. He stood unconsciously, a unsteady gleam unbalancing the bright intelligence in his eye. "I'm...I'm not a child anymore, dammit! I don't need people looking at me like I'm fragile because I can't fight for myself! I don't need people watching over me like...like _guardians_ because I'm not allowed to stand up for myself! I don't...don't want anyone treating me like I'm not capable, like I'm not strong enough to handle the real world! I...I don't..."

Steve let out a long breath and finished, his voice quiet.

"You don't want protection, because you've never had anyone to protect you before." the supersoldier sighed, tugging the ice-captain back down onto his pillow and pulling him close. Toushiro curled against his brother's shoulder.

"...yeah." he admitted finally, his expression shaky. Steve exchanged a long look with Yamamoto, a sort of challenge in those sky-blue eyes, his chiseled jaw taut with an indomitable fearlessness. And the old man took that challenge.

"This has to do with your death, does it not?" the old man said finally, and Toushiro inclined his head once, anger flashing across his face.

"Nobody cared when I died." he said shortly. "Nobody cared to protect me then. And in the Rukongai too - I was ostracized. People were scared of me. Hinamori and the old woman who we lived with were the only two people who wouldn't run from me or throw stones. And then Hinamori left, not even caring that I'd be on my own - because my reiatsu was making our grandmother sick by that point. Then in the Academy, nobody cared to step in when the upperclassmen would attack me. The same thing happened once I was admitted to the Second Division - everyone looked down on me because of my appearance. I didn't get a break until I went to the Tenth to work with Shiba-taicho as his Third Seat, but then _he_ disappeared too, to god knows where, and _six damn assassination attempts_ nearly took me out when I did the only thing I could to keep the Tenth in order!"

Hitsugaya's knuckles were white on the edge of the table, his white teeth screeching together he was clenching his jaw so hard.

"And now you're telling me that all the pain I put myself through - all the _suffering_ I endured to gain the respect I needed to protect myself - was redundant? You're telling me that because I have infinite reserves of power at my disposal, I need babysitters? I don't need people to take care of me!"

Yamamoto folded his hands on the table, understanding now what Steve had meant when he'd revealed his thoughts on the young captain's fear.

"You're afraid of feeling like a child." Yamamoto stated slowly, watching as Toushiro's face closed off.

"...I was never a child." the ice-captain's voice was clipped, carefully controlled. "...I never _can_ be a child again."

"Can't or don't want to?" Steve asked gently, and Toushiro sighed.

"Both." the white-haired boy tried not to let the agitation in his reiatsu be felt, but he had the sneaking suspicion that both Yamamoto and Steve were well aware of his slipping control. However, neither of them said anything about it.

"Then we will not treat you like a child, Hitsugaya-taicho." Yamamoto said decisively, appearing to come to a conclusion he was pleased with. "Tell me - of all the soldiers in a war, who are the few which must not be captured under any circumstances?"

Steve's eyes widened, realizing _exactly_ what the old man was doing, and Hitsugaya followed not even a half-second later, eyes widening.

"The architects of tactical strategy, both covert and overt." Toushiro murmured, eyes widening. "But you're the one who organizes the Gotei 13's war tactics when we fight as a whole!"

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow.

"Your mind is very keen, Hitsugaya-taicho, and furthermore, you were the first to suspect foul play when Aizen first defected." Yamamoto said slowly. "You have consistently shown startling prowess when engaged in battle with skillful enemies, but you know as well as any other captain within our ranks that your true strength is your intelligence. Keeping you a permanent fixture on the strategical team will both protect you and ensure that the protection you have been provided with is the result of your position, not the danger you pose to us."

"Two birds with one stone." Hitsugaya murmured, his white brows knitting together over his forehead. Then he blinked, as if realizing something, and he stared at Yamamoto, horror passing over his face.

"...why do we need a strategical team, Yamamoto-soutaicho?" he asked, his voice strained. "...I thought that my link to the Infinity Stones was a secret - you wouldn't call for a strategy meeting until war began! This is too soon for a strategy team to be formed!"

The old man and Steve froze - they'd been caught. It had finally happened. They'd slipped up.

"...Steve, what aren't you telling me?" Hitsugaya pleaded suddenly, turning to his brother with a beseeching stare in his green eyes. Steve took a deep breath, trying to figure out how he would talk his way out, but still tell the white-haired boy some sort of truth.

"An ancient enemy is awake." Yamamoto interrupted, his voice flat. "He was sealed with the power of the Infinity Stones, but the moment you fused with the Space Stone he broke free of his prison."

Suddenly Toushiro looked pale, and his lips moved soundlessly. Thor's face and grim voice flashed into his head, a memory of a past conversation suddenly flooding him.

" _..._ _an ancient enemy was wakened when the Tesseract was bonded to your soul and blood, though as of yet we believe him to be unaware of your existence. I will not say this enemy's name, and I do not know his intentions toward your people, only that it involves death and destruction. But I do know this; that many thousands of years ago he took my father's eye and nearly took your commander's life doing battle for the power you now hold..._ "

And suddenly, Toushiro felt like he was falling. Something bright and pure was stirring in his chest at the mention of the enemy, and though he knew very little he felt as if the floor had dropped out from underneath him. Fear began to creep into the pit of his stomach. A flash of brilliant white passed over his vision, and voices, distorted and echoing strangely, bounced off the inside of his skull, fractals of sound and disjointed color swirling rapidly around him.

 _The sky was dark, the sun almost entirely blacked out by the massive mothership hovering on the edge of Earth's atmosphere. A howling cackle ripped through the air, and a bolt of black energy shot from the prow of the ship, searing the blackened battlefield below and sending rippling pulses of decaying power through the fabric of the world. An insect-like alien with gleaming, venomous black mandibles and pitch-black fangs grinned down at the wasted earth, the phalanxes of humans, Asgardians and shinigami coughing in the dust, a limp form clad in something akin to a stealth uniform gripped securely in his hands. Then the alien disappeared, taking the unconscious figure with it, and a sharp scream of despair echoed over the battlefield._

" _STEVE!"_

Then the image fractured, the white spiraling in front of his face again, and for half a second he could hear Yamamoto and Steve frantically calling his name, but then the current of blinding white power pulled him under again, and his breath was stolen from his lungs.

 _Matsumoto had her sword through Hinamori's chest, horror on both women's faces, and Aizen smirked in the background, the cold, dark purple of his eyes gleaming. He held a keen blade unsheathed in his hand, bloody, and to the side he could see Steve, face down, unmoving. Natasha lay not far from him, her breath whistling through the gaping puncture in her chest, her blue-grey eyes glassy, her red hair fanned out about her head, and the remaining soldiers were scattered beyond her, utterly still. The ground was splattered with blood, and as Hinamori fell to her knees Matsumoto's head slid from her body, the last two to die. An ear-shattering shriek of grief and rage echoed over the corpse-littered battlefield, and wings of ice blossomed from the back of a white-haired teenager standing on the far edge of the carnage._

He was looking at himself. Watching himself. But something was dreadfully, awfully wrong. What?

 _Multicolored light bled from Hitsugaya's fingers and forehead, staining his skin with bionic lines of color, and he screamed again, the power of the Infinity Stones exploding from him and whiplashing about his slender frame in ribbons of deadly color. With an animalistic howl, he lunged for Aizen, unthinking, blind to all but his consuming sorrow and blizzardlike rage._

 _Ribbons of black energy wrapped around the great wings of winter and shattered them, and the dragon cried out in despair as he fell, the darkness piercing his shoulders and stomach, slamming him to the ground inches from Aizen's feet. The insect-like alien appeared, his compound eyes sparkling in delight, and with an agonized gasp, the tendrils of his black power dragged the teenaged shinigami upright like a bleeding puppet. The insect-alien approached, his six pointed legs clicking, and he reached out with a clawed hand and stabbed his talons into Hitsugaya's chest, the barbed, spear-like fingers curling around the beating heart hidden there and crushing it._

 _Hitsugaya's usually pale lips turned scarlet, the deep emerald shine of his eyes paling to dead jade, and his white head fell back limply. And as the ground turned red and the life left the planet, Aizen laughed softly._

" _Sayounara, Hitsugaya-taicho."_

Then everything went black.

* * *

Something whirred close by him, and he could feel hands on his body, touching him with gentle force, a steady fuzz of energy flowing from those points of contact and into his aching limbs. Slowly, voices reached him through the white haze, and he fought against the cloud in his mind, desperate to know what was being said, but the voices stayed indistinct for several long minutes. He pushed at the blinding white barriers, struggling, and finally something gave way and he spilled back into full consciousness.

His eyes flew open and he choked for breath, gasping unevenly, the visions he'd just had shaking him more than he'd like to admit. A very worried Unohana materialized above him, her hands glowing green, and an anxious-looking Thor stood on her other side, clutching some sort of device in his hands. Suddenly a firework exploded in his head, a discordant symphony of trumpets and tubas and drums reverberating in his skull. He groaned, trying to lift a hand to massage his aching temples.

However, he couldn't. Thick electronic cuffs which stung were attached to his wrists, and they bound him to the bed below him. He craned his aching head to get a better look and saw the myriad of clear wires leading away from the digitally-illuminated cuffs locked around his wrists and ankles.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, please lie still." Unohana requested politely, her voice very soft. "You're not ready to move yet."

Toushiro blinked in fuzzy confusion, but then he felt a clean plastic clamp press against both sides of his face and head, carefully avoiding his right temple. Suddenly he couldn't move his head, and he tensed, nervous. Unohana reached out, her kindly face somewhat apologetic.

"This will hurt." she warned him gently. "Stay as calm as you can, please."

Hitsugaya blinked, but suddenly a soft whirring sounded above his ear and he felt a triad of cold metal prongs press against his temple and slide under a small, circular plate attached to the side of his skull that he hadn't previously noticed. With a swift, unerringly steady movement, the three-pronged clamp pulled away, taking the metal disk with it.

A lightning bolt of pain lanced through his brain and his vision dissolved into sparks, his ears ringing painfully. He cried out, unable to think straight for several minutes, but then Unohana laid her hand on his forehead and reflected healing kido into his brain. The pain began to subside gradually, the densely packed neurons in his prefrontal cortex regrowing damaged synapses under Unohana's careful monitoring. The clamps on either side of his head slid away, and with the support gone his head lolled freely, the dulling pain in his skull rendering him temporarily helpless.

When he'd recovered from the swift, stabbing pain, Unohana nodded to Thor and unhooked the cuffs about Hitsugaya's wrists from where they were chained to the structure he now realized was not a bed, but rather one of Kurotsuchi's experimenting tables. The Fourth Division Captain gently helped him to sit up.

"Wh-what was that?" Toushiro asked weakly once he'd been adequately been propped up by pillows. His hand drifted up to massage his temple, and he blinked in surprise. Hidden neatly under the edge of the plastic and metal bracelets were IV needles, inserted into his wrists.

Unohana saw his surprise for what it was and quickly motioned to Thor to explain. The Asgardian smiled faintly, then showed Toushiro the monitor's screen, which displayed a line graph with seven differently colored lines on it. The seventh was an icy white on the black background, but it appeared that it and the six other colors had surged in chaotic potency before returning to the previous stability.

"You lost control, my young friend." Thor said gently. "Asgard and two of your shinigami divisions have suspected the possibility for some months now, so we constructed a prototype device designed to channel and control the power of the Infinity Stones when you could not. It is supposed to be semi-portable, but as of yet it is still quite bulky. You were lucky the device worked."

The confusion lifted away from Hitsugaya's face and he allowed his fingers to fall back to the clean white table beneath him. Curious, he looked around. Aside from the cuffs on his wrists and ankles, a long, sharp needle with a wire attached to the center of the metal disk on its non-pointed end lay beside him, and the clear wires trailing from every one of the myriad devices attached to him fed into a large machine which had several clear glass components that seemed to act something like holding containers. One of them contained a faint trace of pure yellow liquid that glowed, and a second was nearly half-full with glowing purple fluid. Several more of these machines, identical in every regard, were attached to the first, but they all seemed clean of the radioactive glowing fluids. Several more devices were attached to that first machine, including what looked to be a modified oxygen mask and even an array of several ports designed to create disinfected pathways into his torso, when inserted into his skin.

But Hitsugaya's attention was fixed on the long needle. The cold metal disk on its blunt end was approximately the same shape as the disk which had been yanked from the side of his head...

"That's a brain probe, Hitsugaya-taicho." Unohana said softly, her voice subdued. "The energy that the Infinity Stones produce in your chest actually travels through your nervous system, and at some point the signals end up in your brain, where the energy undergoes a streamlining process. That is what enables you to control their power. However, when you have lost control of them, the process is impaired and the excess has to be siphoned off to avoid an explosive result. The cuffs on your wrists and ankles control and siphon away the Infinity Stones' power in much the same way, though they drain the excess raw energy from your peripheral nervous system rather than the brain and spinal cord directly."

Toushiro swallowed hard.

"So...that needle..."

"Was inserted directly into your brain, yes." Unohana confirmed. "Kurotsuchi-taicho, Asgard, and I have been working to ensure this process is as safe as possible for you, but we have not yet found a way to make the procedure painless."

"It's alright." the young man said, closing his eyes. "...may I have an aspirin? My head's pounding."

Thor looked up from his brief inspection of the powerful equipment used to contain the Infinity Stones' power, his roguish face twisted in a smile.

"Lady Unohana, each of the cells is fully operational. Sir Kurotsuchi's odd gadgets seem to be accepting the Infinity Stones' power well." the Asgardian prince said cheerfully. "I believe my father would be pleased."

Unohana smiled indulgently, her long, dark hair framing her face prettily.

"I'm sure he will be, Thor-san." She said, still smiling. "Would you please inform Yamamoto-soutaicho that Hitsugaya-taicho has regained consciousness? Oh, and please inform Rogers-san as well; he seemed very worried. And after that would you please ask Isane to bring Hitsugaya-taicho an aspirin and a glass of water?"

Thor nodded genially, clasping Hitsugaya's shoulder briefly in a gesture of solidarity, then strode from the room, his red cape swirling. Toushiro blinked owlishly.

"Steve?" he said slowly. Suddenly, he remembered the visions he'd just had and his face went pale. He tried not to panic, but the dawning horror on his face was unmistakable and growing rapidly. "Oh god..."

Unohana cupped his face in her hand gently, looking worried, and belatedly Toushiro realized that he was hyperventilating. He felt the Fourth Division Captain press her hand over his mouth and nose, green healing kido enveloping her palms. It was as if a pillow had been pressed over his face, and for a second the shortage of air panicked him, but Unohana's face was calm, steadying.

"Stay calm, Hitsugaya-taicho. Stay calm." she said, her voice soothing, and though the fear still stayed coiled in the pit of his stomach the panic began to subside. A pulse of air slipped through the barrier of seafoam kido, and after he refreshed the air in his lungs, he felt another pulse ripple to his nose and lips. Unohana was clearly trying to control his breathing.

It took a moment for him to calm enough so that she felt safe in removing the kido, but when she did her face was serious.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, what's wrong?" she asked gently, half-turning to acknowledge the Captain-Commander as he walked in, his bushy eyebrows lowered in concern. Toushiro fumbled for an answer, trying to figure out how to put into words the visions he'd had. His hands shook.

"Hitsugaya-taicho?" Unohana asked again, trying to draw his gaze, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

"I...I..." he stumbled.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, what did you see?" Yamamoto asked quietly, his gruff old voice oddly gentle. Toushiro curled his palms into fists.

"How...How did you know?" he murmured, sighed deeply, clasping his wrinkled hands over the top of his cane.

"I too have used the Infinity Stones, Hitsugaya-taicho, long before, when the first alliance between Seireitei and Asgard still flourished, though I have never been bonded to them as you are, nor wielded all their power at once." he explained in his typical old-man growl. "I too have had visions. So tell me...what did you see?"

Toushiro swallowed hard and, his voice choked, related both stories to Yamamoto. The old man sat in silence for several moments, his expression grave.

"You said you saw this...alien creature twice? And Aizen only once?" he asked carefully. Toushiro tensed noticeably at Aizen's name, but nodded wordlessly. Yamamoto swore under his breath.

"This is grave news." he said solemnly. "Visions of conflicting futures always come in pairs such as these, yet both times you say the Earth was under attack."

"...Yes sir." Toushiro whispered, his nails digging into his palms. "But...I...I looked _older_ in the second vision. I could recognize myself, but my face was thinner, and I was taller."

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow.

"Yet you said Steve Rogers was alive and fighting? The time it would take you to age even a physical year is likely several decades in length, if not more."

Toushiro shrugged at that.

"Steve has a super-serum in his blood." he said evenly. "And he survived seventy years frozen in ice without any sign of aging. It's hard to tell how fast he will age. And Natasha has a lesser version of the same serum."

Yamamoto nodded, considering this.

"So from your visions, we can deduce that at some point in what is likely the distant future, the Earth will come under attack." he said gravely. "And what seems to be the key difference between the two is that one possible future contains the traitor, Aizen Sosuke, freed and joined with the alien you foresaw."

"And I was killed in the second." Hitsugaya said grimly. "Neither future bodes well - though the first seems to at least suggest a lesser evil. But I can't fathom why that alien would take Steve."

Steve coughed from where he stood silently at the door, his blue eyes shining carelessly with unhidden concern. He'd clearly been there for some time, unnoticed. Wordlessly, he handed Toushiro a glass of water and an aspirin, which the boy downed quickly, murmuring a thank you.

"...probably because of you, honestly." Steve said quietly. "You're fairly close to me now. Kidnapping me would hurt you. But I think it's odd that this alien would kill you rather than capture you."

Yamamoto and Unohana agreed silently, and Toushiro closed his eyes, searching through his mind for some memory, some scrap of information that would explain the odd behavior. He too knew that he would be taken alive if held at an enemy's mercy like that, so why had he been slaughtered with such carelessness?

A flash of rainbow color flickered over his mind's eye, flashes of memory _\- not his, but still familiar -_ lapsing across his mind and suddenly, his blood ran cold.

"I know why." he said, his tongue numb in his mouth, his lips lisping his words. The three sitting around him went stiff in shock, but Hitsugaya just pressed his hands to his chest, rubbing his fingertips over the small beads where Tessa and Animen were melded with his pale skin. The theory was materializing in his mind and he realized in horror what was wrong with the second vision.

"Aizen's eyes were purple." he whispered, shaking, eyes wide. "The last time his eyes were purple...he had the Hogyoku. If he used that to take the Infinity Stones' power..."

Yamamoto blinked.

"The Hogyoku was destroyed." he said disbelievingly. "It's reforging would require thousands of pure souls. And even so, it would not be able to take the Infinity Stones from you."

"The Earth was dying, Soutaicho!" Hitsugaya cried, distressed. "I could feel its _existence_ crumbling even in my vision! And...and in a battle like that...where were the shinigami? Where was the Gotei 13?!"

Horrified understanding passed across Unohana's face.

"Aizen remade the Hogyoku with shinigami souls...and destroyed the balance separating Soul Society and the World of the Living." she murmured, her hand flying to her mouth. "That's why you think Aizen and this alien crony were able to kill you - because Aizen could use that power to then forcibly remove the Stones' power from your soul and destroy the entire world in the process."

Toushiro nodded, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Aizen killed everyone." he mumbled, staring at his knees. "Every single living thing. I felt the Earth die...I don't know how, but I...I _felt_ it."

Toushiro cupped his hands to his face, trying to keep himself calm.

"I saw the apocalypse."

His voice was terribly quiet and so hollow that it rang. For a long moment there was utter silence, Unohana and Yamamoto gazing at each other with unnatural amounts of dread in their faces. Toushiro still shook, terrified at the thought of losing so completely. But then a loud, fond sigh echoed around the room, and without warning Steve sat down next to him and drew the him into a reassuring hug.

"That's only one future, kiddo." he reminded the youngest captain calmly. "And sure, I get kidnapped in the other version. But do you really think I'd let some awkward spider just carry me off like that? Hell, do you think _Tasha_ would let me get myself captured?"

Toushiro chuckled shakily, pressing his face to Steve's collarbone for a brief moment to compose himself before pulling away again.

"...You're right." he said. "It's just a possibility. Not a definite."

Yamamoto nodded firmly.

"And now that we know, we can work to prevent it." he decided firmly, a swift flash of blazing fire filling the room. "The Gotei 13 will not fall so easily."

"We damn well better not." Toushior agreed, his voice growing stronger. "My Shikai with the Gentei Kaijo was enough to take out one of the Chitauri air-creatures. And there are at least thirty people in my division alone capable of a powerful Shikai release, and more than that who are pretty damn close. And there are twelve more divisions besides, the Kido Corps, the Onmitsukido, the SRD, SHIELD, and Asgard. If Aizen wants to use Seireitei as his raw material, he'd better figure out how to fight without Kyoka Suigetsu, or he's going to get his stupid ass kicked all the way back to Mugen."

Steve laughed, as did Unohana, though her quiet chuckle was much more venomous than Steve's affectionate approval.

"I see you're assuming we won't tear his body to shreds first." she said, her dark blue gaze glinting with restrained bloodthirst. Hitsugaya's smile turned draconic, his lips curling ferally.

"Well, I wasn't going to be the one to say it, Unohana-taicho." he said smoothly. "But if that's what will happen...who am I to stop it?"

Yamamoto said nothing, but from the sadistic coiling of his charring reiatsu it was clear he was thinking along the same lines. Steve swallowed hard, unnerved by the vicious cruelty blatantly displayed among the three shinigami, then gently squeezed his younger brother's shoulder. Toushiro blinked, then laughed a bit, understanding the silent message.

"Oh, that's right." he said, smirking a bit. "You think this level of battle lust is bad. Just wait until you meet Zaraki."

"Zaraki?" Steve questioned, and Toushiro laughed again, detaching the cuffs from his wrists and ankles with Unohana's gentle assistance and sliding off the table, retrieving his boots from the corner of the room.

"We'll pass through the Eleventh Division on the way to my Division." Toushiro smirked wickedly. The expression wasn't nice. "Trust me; after walking through that division, this little display will look tame. Unohana-taicho, Yamamoto-soutaicho, I take my leave."

The pair nodded their understanding, and Steve gulped and followed his brother from the Twelfth.

* * *

 **Well? What did you think? Leave a note in that little box! ;)**


	17. Unleashed Fury

**A/N:** Uh...hi? It's been a while... O_O' I apologize...I went to see The Force Awakens, and the Star Wars bug bit me. (You can guess what crossover I'm writing now...) And then I had the weirdest dream about a gender-questioning Toushiro in super-conservative Seireitei, and I had to write it down...so yeah. Excuses, excuses.

Anyway...new chapter, ne? And it's long!

Also - my poll is still up. PLEASE VOTE!

~Sola

* * *

 _"Thoughts/Telepathy"_

 _~"Artificial Communications"~_

 _"Zanpakutou speaking"_

 ** _"Japanese"_**

"Your Grace, are you in any pain?"

Toushiro rubbed groggily at his eyes with his right hand. His left shoulder blade was still numb, and his left arm wasn't working properly, but from what he could tell, he wasn't hurting. Slowly, his brain still fogged by the sedative he'd been given, he pushed himself into a sitting position, his left arm hanging limply.

"I...don' think so." he slurred sleepily, the glowing table he sat on buzzing a bit. The Asgardian surgeons on either side of him reached out and steadied him as he swayed, their expressions gentle. He'd been conscious while the tracker was hidden beneath the dense bone of his shoulder blade, but he'd also been high on powerful painkillers, so it would be a wonder if he remembered anything at all from the short operation.

"The sedative will most likely affect you for a few hours more, Your Grace." the Asgardian who had first spoken informed him, his voice soft. "I would recommend that you sleep until the soporific leaves your bloodstream. We can return you to one of the guest rooms until then."

Hitsugaya nodded fuzzily, then slid from the operating table, his bare feet landing on the cold tile floor. For a split second he stayed upright, a miracle in itself, and then he pitched forward, collapsing like a melting pillar of snow. Strong hands caught him before he could hit the floor and he was gently picked up and laid down on a stretcher. The Asgardian surgeons chastised him kindly, watching as the young shinigami gaped at them, the drug cocktail in his blood slowing his intellect by a vast margin.

The Asgardians carried him swiftly to a nearby room, but by time they were settling him into a warm bed he was already drifting away on the cusp of a drug-induced dream. Toushiro fell headfirst into a heavy slumber, the sedatives and painkillers easily dragging him under.

Steve and Matsumoto found him still deeply asleep when they came to Asgard to check on him an hour later. Each carried a small object shaped something like an old iPod nano, but without the circular donut-button on the silver part. Instead, the rectangular device had three buttons on it along the bottom, used for navigating around the tiny device. A small, blinking light gleamed in the topmost corner of the screen, a blipping line coursing across the base of screen just underneath it. The tracer - with Hitsugaya's permission - transmitted both his location and heart rate, just in case Tony's suit failed. Within the confines of his gigai, he'd be clad in full battle regalia, complete with his haori and the bulletproof bodysuit Tony had made for him in New York, but he wasn't authorized to eject unless his life - or the lives of a vast number of people - was in danger.

Steve fiddled with the device in his hands, glancing at the screen and back at his slumbering little brother with a certain curiosity.

"Seireitei coded these gadgets to our reiatsu, correct?" Steve asked worriedly, reaching out and clasping his hand around Toushiro's limp fingers. The boy stirred in his sleep briefly, then settled back down, curling unconsciously towards Steve. Matsumoto smiled at the peaceful expression on her captain's face.

"Yep." she said cheerfully. "Anyone else who gets their hands on these little boxes will see misleading information, and the signal that Taicho's tracer is sending out is encrypted with a reiatsu-specific keycode - not to mention that the signal is biological in nature. This is about as secure as it gets."

Steve relaxed a little bit, absently tousling Toushiro soft white hair with his fingers. He let out a sigh of relief.

"And he'll be able to contact us by linking to Tessa's AI form remotely, right?" he asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer was yes. Matsumoto's face softened.

"My taicho will be just fine, Steve." she reassured the man gently. "He served as Soifon-taicho's Fourth Seat after he left the Academy. He's no stranger to covert operations. Besides, the SHIELD Agent who he's going to be in contact with won't let anything happen to him."

Steve sighed again, but suddenly a teasing voice came from the doorway.

"That won't stop him from fretting like the mother hen he is." Natasha jibed, smiling at her significant other. With her characteristic boldness, she planted a sloppy kiss on Steve's cheek and laughed as the soldier reddened to the exact shade of _overripe tomato_ that matched her hair.

"Tasha, you know I hate PDA." The supersoldier reminded her, sulking, but the spy just laughed again.

"And you know I don't care in the slightest." she returned, smiling cheerfully. "Besides, you blush worse than Toushiro-kun, which is impressive."

Steve groaned exaggeratedly and both women erupted into laughter. The worst part was that there was a nugget of truth in that accusation. While Toushiro blushed more frequently, Steve's blush was redder.

"...You lot are noisy."

Steve looked over to see that Toushiro had opened his eyes. He blinked owlishly up at Steve, a faint trace of annoyance on his face, but stayed curled comfortably under the warm comforter, cuddled into the pillow and looking all too much like a disgruntled turtle.

"Sorry kiddo." Steve apologized, his expression sheepish. "I blame Miss Rangiku."

Matsumoto let out a squall of protest, but Toushiro smirked and Natasha grinned wickedly.

"Effective scapegoating, Steve." Toushiro yawned tiredly, his now-functional left hand peeking up from beneath the fluffy blankets and rubbing the sleep from one green eye. Steve smiled down at the boy.

"Natasha's a good teacher." Steve admitted, smiling, and the redheaded spy went a pleased pink.

"Why, thank you, Steve." She said, and Toushiro sat up with a sigh, stretching as he did so. He winced as the stitches in his shoulder pulled on his skin, hissing in distaste at the thought of the tracer under his shoulder blade, then turned a smoldering glower of Steve and Matsumoto, muttering something under his breath.

"Is it working?" he asked grudgingly, shooting a dark look at the tiny metal box in Steve's hands. The supersoldier held the screen up, showing the boy the blinking light that marked his location, as well as the steady palpitation of his heart. Hitsugaya observed it for a moment, then shuddered.

"This leaves a _really_ bad taste in my mouth." he said sourly, rubbing his temples in irritation. Steve sat on the edge of the bed and draped an arm over the boy's naked shoulders, realizing with surprise that the young shinigami's bare skin was quite cool to the touch. He wasn't cold - though Steve had no doubt that he was plenty capable of dropping his body temperature - but rather cool, like a fall breeze, or a moist winter rain.

"It's only going to last half a year, son." the American captain reminded gently. "For you, that's like a second, considering your life - er, death-span."

Hitsugaya's lips twitched in amusement at Steve's grin, and he shoved his brother away from him with impish force. The tall man stumbled then, sliding off the bed and landing hard on his butt.

"Ow! Toushiro!" Steve protested, standing back up gingerly, his rear end a bit sore.

"Did you seriously just say that?." the preteen groaned, an exasperated light glinting in his eyes. "I know you're trying to be punny, but my brain's bleeding from the sheer stupidity of the life-death puns."

"At least I'm not the one that references _squirrels_."

"Oi, that's your fault too!"

"You were the one with the awful bedhead - what was I supposed to say?"

" _You're_ the moron who keeps mussing my hair!"

"You stopped slapping my hand off - I figured you didn't care."

"Well I- dammit, that's beside the point, Nii-chan!"

"What _is_ the point?"

"...Still your fault." Toushiro grumbled finally, causing Steve to grin.

Matsumoto and Natasha watched the whole exchange as quietly as they could, stifling giggles, but the second the word _Nii-chan_ came out of Toushiro's mouth, Matsumoto stood stricken. With her typical tact, she took Natasha's sleeve and pulled her gently to the back of the room, whispering in the redheaded woman's ear.

"Did...did Taicho just call Steve-san _Nii-chan_ , Natasha-chan?" Matsumoto asked, and Natasha nodded, her usually hard face softening slightly.

"I heard it too, Rangiku." the Russian woman said softly, her blue-grey eyes somewhat touched by the unconscious display of affection between the two brothers. "And...it's not the first time. Tessa mentioned it once. That Toushiro-kun thinks of Steve as a big brother."

Matsumoto and Natasha looked on in nothing short of wonder as the two brothers bantered easily, Toushiro's precious, pouting scowl carefully counterbalanced by Steve's laughing smile. Finally, however, Toushiro lost patience and with a flash of Kido and a quick yelp from Steve the taller man fell flat on his face, his arms bound behind him with a layer of black Kido characters. Pale cheeks stained a fiery pink, Toushiro proceeded to rant at his older brother, in essence shouting variations of ' _I'm NOT cute, Steve! Quit calling me that!'_ on repeat. Steve was collapsed in laughter, not even fighting the Kido binding him despite its utter simplicity, and that only served to irritate his younger sibling all the more.

"Steve's going to have a lot of fun trying to parent him." Natasha said, her lips twitching. "And Toushiro-kun is going to have a lot of fun trying to exasperate him."

Matsumoto wrapped her arms around herself. She hadn't seen this side of Hitsugaya Toushiro since he'd been a bratty little Rukongai urchin - bold and uninhibited, completely at ease in displaying his wicked temper and sarcastic sense of humor. Then the Shinou Academy had sunk its claws into him, and shortly after that, so had Soifon.

So she just smiled, her blue eyes sparkling beautifully, beatifically, and sighed.

"I hope so."

* * *

Hitsugaya stared out at the assembled mass of his troops, then returned his attention to his Third Seat, his face cold as usual.

" _ **All paperwork classified for Captains' eyes only will be deferred either to Ukitake or Yamamoto-soutaicho in my absence. Matsumoto can continue to do her own work, but if you can lighten her load in any way, I'm going to ask that you do so. She's taking over the SRD while I'm away, and while Thor, Steve, and Natasha are going to help her as much as they can, only Matsumoto and Thor have the necessary clearance to do the majority of my paperwork. If it's necessary, split the work between priority levels and do only high-priority - I should be able to do the rest upon my return."**_ he said coolly, and Takahashi bowed to her captain. As the highest-ranking member of the Tenth Division that did not hold rank in the SRD, she had been left in charge.

" _ **Yes sir, Hitsugaya-taicho."**_ she said, her voice the usual blank slate that it always had been. " _ **I will delegate tasks of lesser importance to our Fourth and Fifth Seats if need be."**_

Hitsugaya nodded approvingly.

" _ **Thank you, Takahashi. And remember, Ukitake and Yamamoto are willing to help you process stringently classified information."**_

" _ **Yes sir."**_

Hitsugaya turned to the rest of the Tenth Division, which had gathered to see him off at the Tenth's personal Senkaimon. His haori billowed impressively about him.

" _ **I will return as soon as I am able."**_ he raised his voice just enough to project back several rows - he wasn't going to lower himself to shouting, and all of his subordinates knew to listen closely when he was speaking anyway. " _ **During my absence, Third Seat Takahashi will be in charge of you. She is fully authorized to invoke my name on appropriate punishments should anyone here choose to rail against her authority. And mark my words, if I return to find that**_ **anyone** _**has been insubordinate or belligerent,**_ _ **there will be**_ **consequences** _ **. Do I make myself clear?"**_

A loud chorus of " _ **Yes, Hitsugaya-taicho!"**_ met him, and he nodded coolly, satisfied by the response. Then he reached for his gigai, which a slightly creeped-out Clint was supporting by the scruff of the neck. The fake body was deposited limply into its owner's arms, and with a deep breath and the muttered incantation he needed to step inside, the two white-haired preteens merged and the gigai came to life.

Toushiro flexed his fingers, grimacing at the uncomfortable sensation. This gigai was just as high-quality as his previous one, but he no longer had the ability to summon Hyourinmaru to his hand now. Instead, his reiatsu and the Infinity Stones' power was sharply suppressed, so much so that he was barely able to feel the gentle reiatsu of his entire Division licking at his back. He felt completely cut off - completely vulnerable. In theory it was to hide his power - in reality, it was probably there to ensure that he acted completely human. Without access to his powers in the gigai, he'd be completely defenseless save for his fists.

Annoying.

"That's still creepy as hell." Tony interjected suddenly. All the Avengers had gathered to see the young captain off, and they stood in a casual clump by the glowing portal which would transport Toushiro to the remote Vietnamese orphanage he was being placed in. Division Twelve was there now, using a modified form of the memory-modifying powder to insert his existence into the villagers' memories.

Tony, however, was referring to the sudden entering of the gigai.

Toushiro rolled his eyes and scowled deeply.

"You're telling _me_." he grumbled. "I can't feel my powers at all - Hyourinmaru's completely silent, and so are Tessa and Animen. 'Creepy as hell' doesn't even begin to describe it."

"It is for your protection, Toushiro." Thor said carefully, obviously trying not to set the boy off, but Hitsugaya just grimaced again.

"I know, I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it." the ice-captain huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. The clothes he was wearing were rough and worn, artfully destroyed by Natasha to be exactly ragged enough to fit his character. Clint sighed.

"Remember, names are important." he cautioned. "Yours - thankfully - will remain the same, but you'll have to also remember the names of everyone else you'll be with."

Toushiro snorted.

"Already memorized them from the dossier Fury put together for me." he sniffed. "I _was_ in the Second for close to a decade - I know how this works."

Clint grinned faintly.

"Then good luck, Toushiro." he said, his tone light. "I suppose we'll see you in six months."

"Hopefully sooner than that if everything goes well." Bruce interjected, running a hand through his curly hair. He turned a serious gaze on Toushiro.

"Toushiro, remember - if anything goes wrong, you contact us immediately. The restrictions on the Infinity Stones' power will turn off when you're asleep - use that time to talk to us through Tessa and give us updates." He reminded. Toushiro nodded.

"Of course." he agreed quietly. "And keep training with Shinji, Bruce. Your Cero is powerful, but it's still immature."

Bruce smiled at that, pulling the Hulk's green mask over his face and flexing his suddenly swollen muscles. His skin turned lime green - though his body remained the same size overall. After he'd mastered his inner Hollow's insane power, he'd been a much happier man - he'd even accepted Stark's invitation to New York and apologetically visited Harlem.

"Going now." he said, his voice distorted by the mask, and with a flash of what appeared to be a mix of Sonido and Shunpo, he disappeared. Thor, curious as ever, flew off after him, pausing only to smother Hitsugaya briefly in a gigantic, overenthusiastic bear hug. After he left, Toushiro gasped and rubbed at his aching ribs.

"I swear, that man has a tighter grip than Matsumoto." he mumbled, taking a deep breath to try and refill his lungs with oxygen. Clint and Tony watched, giggling like schoolchildren at his misfortune, and he glared, realizing they'd overheard.

"Oi! Shut up, you two!"

They saluted him, still laughing, and tried to put on straight faces. Toushiro scowled darkly and started to grind his teeth together, wearing away at the tooth in which his Soul Candy was hidden.

But then Natasha and Steve were in his way, and without warning the Russian woman dropped down and pecked his temple. Toushiro went a delicate shade of rose, donning a deer-in-the-headlights look, and titters of amusement broke out among his division members. It was extremely rare than anyone got to see the captain caught unawares - and that was certainly what had just happened.

"Be safe and kick some Hydra ass, if you can get away with it." Natasha said with a wink. "I'll be sure to keep Steve out of trouble while you're gone."

Toushiro couldn't stop the smile that broke out over his face at the statement and Steve's ensuing sigh of exasperation. The taller man glared playfully at them.

"I'm sorry, I think I've encountered some hypocrisy here." Steve returned, lifting his chin. "I'm not the one who enjoys scaring the hell out of Clint."

Natasha grinned.

"Clint and I have been friends for a very long time." she replied dismissively. "He knows me too well, and I have to keep him scared somehow."

Toushiro's smile grew wicked.

"I like the way you think." he approved, a glint of cheer in his bright green eyes, and Natasha laughed.

"I know - you and I are on the same wavelength." she agreed. "That's probably why this fossil can't refuse us anything."

She jabbed an elbow into Steve's ribs, and he flinched dutifully despite the fact that Natasha hadn't actually hit hard enough to hurt his serum-hardened body. Then he sighed and threaded his fingers through Toushiro's white hair.

"Be safe, kiddo." he said softly, and Hitsugaya, who'd been getting ready to knock the man's hand from his head if only to keep up appearances in front of his men, suddenly had a change of heart. He softened, closed his eyes and made a deliberate decision.

Steve deserved it.

"I will, Nii-chan." he replied quietly, and as the ripple of comprehension swept through his troops Toushiro turned and stepped towards the glowing portal. Then a familiar, sweet voice rang out over the assembled crowd, stopping the Tenth Division Captain dead in his tracks.

" _ **Wait, Hitsugaya-kun!"**_

He spun slowly on the balls of his feet, his back stiff. Hinamori stood panting at the edge of the Senkaimon's platform, a betrayed look in her eyes, her hands fisted tightly in her shihakusho.

" _ **Hinamori?"**_ Toushiro said, trying to force a surprised look, but the brunette lieutenant marched right up to him, wild anger on her pretty face, her brown eyes hardening into deep umber orbs.

" _ **You didn't tell me you were leaving, Hitsugaya-kun!"**_ she accused hotly. " _ **You're supposed to tell me when you're doing something like this!"**_

Toushiro stared at her, completely nonplussed by her behavior.

" _ **Hinamori, you've never cared when I was going on missions before."**_ He said, brushing his thick white bangs out of his cool green eyes in confusion. Hinamori spluttered for a second, unable to name her feelings properly, and then exploded.

" _ **You're my little brother! I have the right to know where you are!"**_ she shouted, tears in her eyes. " _ **I know what Aizen-taicho did hurt you - it hurt me too - And I can understand that it's going to take some time to go back to normal, but you're not even trying!"**_

Hitsugaya went rigid, his eyes snapping with anger, but he held in the building rage. Hinamori...he'd hurt her enough already - she didn't deserve to bear the brunt of his frustration. But she was treading dangerously close to unlocking that tightly sealed package of his wintry fury, and mentioning Aizen didn't help her case.

" _ **Hinamori."**_ he said, trying to keep his voice calm. " _ **I've told you already, haven't I? Aizen destroyed normal. The relationship we once had is gone. We'll never be the same - not after that."**_

" _ **I just want my baby brother back!"**_ Momo cried, taking Toushiro's shoulders in her hands with unnecessary vehemence. " _ **I want my Shiro-chan back!"**_

Toushiro gazed at her, trying hard to keep himself from snapping. The anger and grief was welling up like lava in his chest, rising from his gut. Slowly, knowing he would hurt her but also knowing that he couldn't continue to deny his own feelings any longer, he shook his head.

" _ **Momo."**_ he said softly. " _ **I'm not that boy anymore. I haven't been your little brother 'Shiro-chan' for years."**_

Momo's eyes turned black in the stark whiteness of her face and she shook, her entire body trembling. She didn't appear to care that she was making a scene in front of the entirety of the Tenth Division. Instead, she was looking at Toushiro like she was losing a precious object, like she some priceless heirloom was being stolen from her.

" _ **...But you're**_ **Steve's** _**little brother."**_ she said, her voice darkening. " _ **You'll let**_ **him** _**get close to you."**_

Toushiro's gaze flashed.

" _ **Don't you bring Steve into this, Hinamori."**_ he said, his voice growing stern and cold. " _ **He's been helping me."**_

Momo shook her head and clung more tightly to the ice-captain.

" _ **You're replacing me with a human!"**_ she cried, her voice unsteady. Hitsugaya frowned, a swell of irritation cracking the bubble of anger in his chest.

" _ **No. I'm not."**_ he said coolly. " _ **The friendship Steve and I have is completely different than the relationship you and I had."**_

Hinamori stood stricken, crying in earnest now, and with a pang Toushiro realized that she'd looked exactly the same after Aizen had manipulated her into attacking him.

" _ **H-had?"**_ she whispered weakly. " _ **Wh-why...Sh-shiro-chan...I..."**_

She cupped her hands to her face, curling her nails into her palms, and positively glaring at Steve. She quivered messily, for a moment kept together by whatever shred of willpower she had left. But then that thin thread snapped, and she touched fire to the fuse.

" _ **...you...you're abandoning me!"**_ she accused, her eyes flashing onyx. " _ **You're betraying me the same way Aizen-taicho did - after all I've done for you! How dare you forget about me! I'm your**_ **older sister** _ **!"**_

There was a sudden silence, crystalline and deadly, and a shadow passed over Hitsugaya's pale face. A flicker of white energy wisped off his skin, and he hissed from between clenched teeth.

" _ **Get. Out."**_ he spat, white flashing in the usual composed emerald of his eyes, his teeth grinding together, the corded muscle of his jaw and neck taut with anger. But Hinamori refused, instead poking a finger into Toushiro's chest and pushing her face close to his.

" _ **I won't! After everything I did for you, and you're just throwing me away?! Replacing me with a**_ **human** _ **? At least Aizen-taicho had the decency to pretend that I was a needed person up until the very end!"**_ Hinamori yelled.

Toushiro exploded.

" _ **Everything YOU'VE done for me?!"**_ he snarled, blazing white spreading from where it glowed brightly in his eyes to the entirety of his gigai, blazing through the suppressing Kidos with unnatural potency. " _ **How dare you! Who was it who abandoned me in Rukongai to go chasing off after power? Who never cared enough to visit their family even though you promised you would? And who was it who left me to flounder on my own in the Shinou Academy and Seireitei so you could cozy up to your precious**_ **Aizen-taicho** _ **? You did!"**_

Hinamori growled.

" _ **You were supposed to stay in Rukongai and take care of Obaa-san! But no, you had to tag along and become a shinigami too!"**_ Momo spat, angered by Toushiro's accusations. " _ **It's not my fault I was going places and you couldn't keep up!"**_

" _ **I was killing Obaa-san, Hinamori!"**_ Hitsugaya shouted, his entire body blazing with pure white light. " _ **My reiatsu was**_ _ **killing**_ _**her! If you had even visited once, you could have figured that out! But instead you left me! And it wasn't the first time either! You really think that I magically fell out of trees and tripped over my own feet every time I came home with those bruises?! You think that every time I saw you at the Academy, that I'd blown myself up with Kido?! I was being**_ **beaten** _ **, Hinamori, and if you'd cared about me even one jot, you would have seen that!"**_

Momo's face rounded out, her rage dissipating, but Toushiro wasn't done, and slowly the white aura surrounding him started to coalesce and mature, transforming slowly from light into ribbons of glowing, whirling power. The Avengers stared in shock as the Kismet's power awakened, but Toushiro was too angry to approach. But they had to stop him - had to calm him somehow, before the Kismet's wild energy began to work.

" _ **And then you chose Aizen over me!"**_ the dragon-captain snarled, his posture curling into something feral and wrathful as his anger boiled over. " _ **I spent every ounce of strength I had trying to make you see me as an**_ **equal** _ **, not some snot of a little brother, and you didn't**_ **care** _ **! I hid all of the pain and suffering I was enduring from you to keep you happy, to keep you from realizing that I became a captain so I could protect you, so just maybe you would look at me and think that I was strong, but all you ever saw was some little kid playing dress-up, trying to be like your oh-so-**_ **perfect Ai-zen-tai-cho** _ **, and..."**_

Toushiro threaded his fingers into his hair, and the white energy began to spike off into the atmosphere. He gasped, stumbled, clutching at his chest in something like panic, but the Kismet's power calmed some after that, only raging around him in wild white swirls. Rather than spiking off into the atmosphere, it vortexed about Toushiro's trembling body, building slowly, and he shook both from the strain the Kismet's infant power was placing on his soul and the anger consuming him.

" _ **And when he turned on you and tried to kill you, when he stood smiling at me, taunting me with your bloody body, you still came to me and begged me to save him!"**_ Toushiro yelled. " _ **You knew what he did to you! You knew what he did to me! But you chose to ignore the fact that I'd nearly died trying to protect and avenge you, and you asked me to save him! What kind of friend does that?! What kind of person are you?! You ignored my power when Aizen was around, and then the second he vanished you turned to me to help you get him back?! And even now! Even now you don't hate him! Even now you still idolize him and treat me like I'm a child! When were you going to realize that I was**_ **protecting** _**you every step of the way?! When were you going to understand that I'm**_ **not** _**the little boy you left in Rukongai?! I went through so much trying to become strong enough to protect you, and you didn't even care enough to acknowledge it!"**_

And finally, the Kismet's power peaked and tore loose from the tiny captain's slender body, shooting straight up into the gathering clouds.

" _ **When were you going to understand that I loved you enough to die for you?!"**_ he howled into the blaze of his power, utterly unconscious of the havoc he was causing . He seemed completely unaware of the Seventh Stone's power whipping around him like a whirlwind, but it was painfully clear that Hinamori was aware of the trigger she'd pulled. She stood stock still, staring in gasping, pitiable horror, only just realizing how she'd been using her childhood friend and brother.

" _ **H-Hitsugaya-kun...I..."**_ she whimpered, and suddenly the white light washing the air around Toushiro faded. He stumbled forward, panting heavily, his eyes wide in something akin to shock. He'd felt the current of energy flowing through his veins surge into overdrive, but now that the rush was dropping away he felt tired and ill, like he'd just thrown up. The Avengers noticeably relaxed, but kept watching the pair carefully, ready to throw themselves forward if the Kismet woke again. They didn't know exactly how to stop the White Stone's power without knocking Toushiro out, and he needed to be awake for his mission. Steve and Natasha in particular looked worried - but then again, that was because Natasha was translating.

" _ **And then I stabbed you."**_ Toushiro finished, shaking. " _ **And Aizen brought everything I knew crashing down around me. I'd devoted so much time and effort into trying to polish the power I knew could protect you...and Aizen destroyed it. And you**_ **didn't even** **notice** **."**

" _ **Hitsugaya-kun..."**_ Hinamori said, her voice trembling. " _ **I...I didn't know..."**_

" _ **You didn't care, Hinamori!"**_ Toushiro answered, covering half his face with one trembling hand. " _ **And damn it all, I can't help that you're still one of the people I can't help but care about, but you and Aizen**_ **shattered** _ **me. And you...you've got the gall to believe that I'm still your little brother?"**_

" _ **Hitsugaya-kun-"**_

" _ **It's Hitsugaya-taicho! How many times am I going to have to say it to get you to realize it?!"**_ Hitsugaya snapped, hurt flashing across his face. " _ **Why won't you acknowledge me?!"**_

Hinamori froze, stammering, the darkness in her black gaze not fading, and finally Toushiro turned his face away. He knew he wasn't going to hear an answer.

" _ **Please, Hinamori. Just go."**_ he said softly. Hinamori stood frozen, shocked beyond all rational thought. Then something in her seemed to break, and with tears in her eyes she turned and ran.

The members of the Tenth looked on in complete bewilderment as Hitsugaya turned away from them, trying to hide the shaking of his shoulders and the way that his jade gaze was brimming with unshed, angry tears. Then the Third Seat stiffened, and with a silent, shushing motion, she began ushering the men away. The shinigami understood implicitly what she was doing, and though there were a few derisive looks, the majority of Toushiro's subordinates seemed to understand exactly what he'd just been put through.

Steve, his face gentle, stepped forward and took his younger brother's face in one hand, cupping the smooth cheek with tender compassion.

"Natasha told me what you were saying." he said softly, kneeling down so that he was looking up into Toushiro's crumbling facade. "...I think you needed to say that to Lieutenant Hinamori, Toushiro."

Toushiro closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, his face shifting between expressions, unsure of how to settle. He swallowed hard.

"Not...not in front of my men, I didn't." he tripped over his tongue slightly. "...my head aches from all the yelling..."

"Toushiro. If your subordinates expect perfection from you, they're going to be disappointed." Steve said bluntly. "I should know - I've led squads myself. And you'd held in your anger and pain for too long. Perhaps yelling at Lieutenant Hinamori in front of your Division was a breach of professionalism. But in all fairness, you tried to keep calm - everyone saw that. But she didn't let up. And what you told her was the truth. Sure, it was personal, and I know you prefer to remain professional with most people. But it just shows that you're human."

Toushiro lips twitched a bit, a tiny flicker of a smirk crossing his face.

"Er, Steve...I'm not exactly human anymore..."

The supersoldier lightly swatted his brother over the head, his lips also quirking in his typical exasperated smile.

"Oh, fine. You're flawed, then. You know what I meant. It just proves that you're not a god."

"Technically, I am a god. The literal translation of shinigami is 'death god,' so ..."

"Oh, for crying out loud."

Hitsugaya snickered under his breath, an impish gleam flashing weakly in the deep jade of his eyes, and Steve sighed and without another spoken word he reached out and flicked the young man in the center of his forehead. Toushiro jerked back, rubbing at the smarting spot on his head.

"Ow! Steve, what was that for?" he groused, glaring down at the kneeling soldier. Steve shook his head.

"You know what I mean, kiddo." the supersoldier said. "You're not infallible, and while snapping like that wasn't exactly the most dignified course of action, it was completely expected considering the strain on your relationship with Miss Hinamori.

"It doesn't mean I'm allowed to have an outburst like that while I'm on the clock." Toushiro groaned, kneading his forehead with his knuckles. He sighed. "And Hinamori didn't deserve all my problems to be dumped on her-"

"Don't you start, Toushiro." Steve interjected sternly, cutting his younger brother off in midsentence. "You can't be suffering because of another person and call it friendship - unless its something outside control, like an illness. Miss Hinamori was hurting you, and she needed to know what she was doing. It's not your fault that understanding the extent of her carelessness upset her."

Hitsugaya sighed again, looking away, and Steve firmly brought the boy back to face him.

"Look at me, son." he scolded, though he kept his tone compassionate. Toushiro flicked his gaze back to his older brother, the shame evident in his body language not fading, and Steve groaned mentally.

"You are not at fault for feeling the way you do." Steve intoned forcefully. "And keeping all that anger to yourself wasn't healthy. Now that Miss Hinamori knows how you feel, perhaps she'll attempt to accommodate you and apologize. And you'll both have the space you need to cool off after you step through that portal."

Toushiro started to protest, eyebrow pressing into a thin, knotted line, but Steve cut him off.

"Trust me on this, kiddo." he asked, and that simple phrase made the guilt and grief and anger still bubbling in the young shinigami's chest begin to drain away. He relaxed a little bit, the fierce jade of his eyes softening.

"I trust you, Nii-chan." Hitsugaya murmured, and Steve leaned forward, wrapping the boy in a firm hug.

"Be safe, okay? I want you coming back whole and hale." Steve said, the corner of his lips twitching up into a worrywart smile. Toushiro chuckled weakly, embracing his brother uncertainly.

"Just for that, I'll make sure I lose a few limbs along the way." Toushiro said, his voice halfhearted, but it had the desired effect and Steve shuddered anyway.

"I'd kill you if you did that." he warned, and Toushiro laughed genuinely the second time.

"Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?" he teased, and Steve flicked his forehead again, smirking.

"Ow! Quit doing that, Nii-chan!"

Watching from a distance, Takahashi's usually stoic face broke into a slight grin at the sight of her captain's sudden, playful warmth and cast a hard look at the man who had so easily wormed his way into the boy's heart. Steve's expression was affectionate, his smile bright and very real. Takahashi felt herself soften, touched her hand to the hilt of her Zanpakutou, Soyokaze, and made herself a promise. She would protect this man - this man who made her captain smile - with her life if need be.

So she watched her captain go with a light heart, trusting fully in herself to keep the human safe, and she watched as the Senkaimon's gate swung shut behind Toushiro, sealing with a sharp clack, and then he was racing towards his next location and the start of his mission.

Steve reached out and touched the red doors, biting his lower lip. Natasha came up next to him and with a groan, tugged him away from the Senkaimon and over to Clint and Tony.

"Steve, come on. We need your converter to get us safely back to our world." she said. "Toushiro will be fine - he's probably a better fighter than the two of us combined. You have to believe in him."

Steve took a deep breath and held it for a minute, then let it out. Suddenly - oddly - the air seemed too warm, and he found himself wishing that despite all his fears, that it was snowing. But he steeled himself and even as Toushiro had given his trust to Steve, he returned the favor.

"You're right." he said, striding confidently over to Clint and Tony, his face set. "I'll put my faith in him. But I swear to God Almighty, if he pulls another goddamn stunt like the one he tried in New York, I'm _never_ letting that boy out of my sight again."

Natasha, Clint and Tony held out their hands to Steve's long converter band, which he looped around each of their wrists and his own, then pressed the button. Tony snorted as the tiny device began to hum and exchanged a long, meaningful look with Natasha and Clint.

"Believe me, Capsicle, you won't be the only one."

* * *

 _The flash of white lit up his mind like a beacon, beckoning and strong and beautiful, swirling with anger and destructive power, and without a second's thought the dark alien laughed. Standing next to him, the nihilistic Arrancar paused, his brows furrowing together, and with indifferent curiosity spoke._

 _"Why do you laugh so?"_

 _Dvaoudar glanced at Ulquiorra, who had proved to be a tolerable companion, given his usual silence and brooding atmosphere, and so he indulged, his wide, fanged mouth grinning death between his mandibles._

 _"I have found it!" he hissed, holding the trail of that blistering white power in his mind and using the vast telepathic prowess he had developed to trace the Kismet's energy. He followed it back to a small planet, a blue planet made green with carbon-based life-forms and bustling with ignorant mammalian species. He grinned again, tongue flicking against poisonous black fangs, and howled mad laughter into the silence._

 _"What a vast coincidence!" he sent tendrils of dark, chaotic energy across the room , lashing through much of the furniture in his wild joy. "It is on that tiny Earth those shinigami are irrevocably bound to! How incredibly lucky that I get to lay waste to it so utterly!"_

 _Then he paused in his celebrating and turned to Ulquiorra, compound eyes gleaming nastily._

 _"Actually, I suppose I can't destroy it." he said, huffing. "If the shinigami have that tiny white rock - and I'm sure they and that blasted Yamamoto rediscovered it - then when I destroy the Earth that Stone will vanish from existence along with their dimension."_

 _"And at that point the universe will destabilize, Dvaoudar-sama." Ulquiorra droned dully. "If the Earth falls, the realm of the shinigami will crumble, and the afterlife will collide with the Living World, beginning an apocalypse. From there, the effects will behave in a ripple, until every planet's afterlife converges upon their Living World and the entire universe spirals out of control."_

 _Dvaoudar shot Ulquiorra a look of disgust._

 _"Shinigami make everything complicated." he spat. "It's so curious, how one tiny, unevolved planet has been kept safe by their afterlife - the only afterlife in the universe with the ability to connect with their Living World counterpart. Earth is such ridiculous planet - practically defenseless - and yet it is the sole planet upon which the boundaries between the transcendental world and mortal life are so fragile that the slightest push could send the entire universe into another disaster."_

 _"That is why it has been kept safe from alien attack, has it not?" Ulquiorra inquired monotonously, and Dvaoudar hissed in distaste and turned away._

 _"Your Earth is the convergence point between two universes so closely connected that everyone fears harming it." Dvaoudar snapped, mandibles clicking, his six pointed legs clacking on the onyx stone beneath his burnscaled body. "Until me, that is. For if war is waged on the humans' level - on the shinigami level - and the Kismet Stone is taken without destroying the planet, then nothing can stop me from enslaving that planet and slaughtering the Gotei 13."_

 _Ulquiorra blinked emotionlessly._

 _"Aizen-sama would ask that you leave the Earth and the Soul Society for him to rule unconditionally." the Fourth Espada said. "The rest of the universe, he cares little about."_

 _Dvaoudar considered, barked orders for someone to send him Thanos and shrugged his scaly shoulders uncaringly._

 _"Your master can have that. I merely request that I be allowed to make the shinigami suffer at my leisure." his words slithered out of his mouth, and as Thanos hurried up to him, trying to look submissive, Dvaoudar pointed at a specific star on the star-map in front of him._

 _"Set course for this system." he said, leaving no room for argument. "And build the fleet's foot troops."_

 _Thanos bowed and scurried off, and Dvaoudar lifted his contorted head to stare at Ulquiorra with pleasured malice in his eyes._

 _"Let's set about freeing your master now, shall we?"_

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Dvaoudar has found the Kismet! What will happen next?**

 **Also, I know the bit about Earth & Soul Society was weird, but it's weird to me that the Earth has kind of been in the galaxy the whole time where there's Thanos and all those other people live (yeah, I'm thinking Guardians of the Galaxy - it's in the same universe, after all) but the Earth is COMPLETELY clueless to alien existence until Thor and the Chitauri. Like, they've never been attacked. Not once. Hella weird.**

 **Ergo...Soul Society. Bam. We done here?**

 **Please review!**


	18. Undercover

**A/N:** All Vietnamese names were internet-found. Correct me if they're wrong! Also, because the next few chapters are going to be mostly people speaking in Japanese, I haven't bothered to bold anything. People speaking English will therefore be in bold until otherwise stated

Enjoy, and please vote on my poll! Seriously! The poll will be closed after I post the next chapter! If you care about who else turns bad...vote!

* * *

 _Dvaoudar grinned wickedly, gazing down at the small blue planet spinning carelessly below him with cruel malice, his compound eyes reflecting the clouds and continents with dark precision. Thanos knelt next to him, purple skin beaded with pale blue sweat._

 _"There it is." the six-legged alien hissed through his clacking mandibles and poisoned teeth, his thorax writhing in obscene pleasure. "The source of all the universe's trouble."_

 _Wisely, Thanos remained silent, only nodding in agreement. Everyone knew better than to mess with the demigod-creature now. He glanced over at the most recent of the alien's victims - a humanoid being. It had been torn into three pieces, the skull wrenched in half, the torso pulled apart, and the legs ripped off. Dvaoudar hadn't even moved a muscle - only stared and watched. The black telekinesis that the strange being used was powerful enough to affect the stars. No mortal creature could hope to oppose it - not even the shinigami._

 _Suddenly, a gaping rip in the fabric of space time split open like a mouth, and two figure stepped out of the Garganta. The first was Ulquiorra, his masklike-face as blank as usual, and next to him stood another figure, their head hooded, their arms bound behind their back. They were writhing, strong arms straining against the chains binding them._

 _"Let me go, you bastard! I'll kill you!" the unknown figure shouted, but Ulquiorra smashed his fist onto the top of their head without a flicker of concern, sending them face-first into the floor._

 _"You have been meeting with me in secret for the past month." he said blankly. "If you wished me dead, you would have told the Soul Society or killed me already. You have not. So be silent, shinigami trash."_

 _"No, I fucking_ won't _be silent, Ulquiorra!"_

 _Dvaoudar held up a hand, his taloned fingertips laced with black power, and stepped forward, placing his hand in the center of the captive's forehead. He laughed at the howl of rage and pain that issued from the shinigami's throat and forced his way deeper into the hooded person's mind._

 _"This one has a strong mind, Ulquiorra. Why did you bring me this one?" he asked. The Arrancar cleared his throat._

 _"This shinigami has a power unlike any other." Ulquiorra replied dryly. "They will be instrumental in our defeat of the humans and shinigami."_

 _Dvaoudar jerked his hand sharply, layering his dark essence over the surface of the shinigami's mind, then withdrew, satisfied that his brainwashing was complete. The shinigami lay still on the floor, no longer struggling, and Dvaoudar clambered antlike over them, smiling a terrible smile._

 _"Well now." he said, pleased. "It seems our alliance was well-advised. You have done well, Ulquiorra."_

 _The Arrancar bowed, and Dvaoudar clapped his hands once._

 _"Thanos, take my new puppet to a room and allow them to rest. Then, once they have regained their full strength, send them back to Earth and Seireitei - I would like them to spy for me."_

 _Thanos bowed deeply, then left with the unconscious shinigami in tow. Dvaoudar laughed at the stars._

 _"Asgard still believes that I cannot twist the mind of a shinigami." he chuckled merrily, twisted face darkening. "But I grew strong in my imprisonment."_

 _He turned to face his quivering troops._

 _"Establish a base on the far side of the Earth's moon, and another on that red planet they call Mars." he barked. "I want enough firepower to crush both Earth and Asgard within a year!"_

* * *

It was hot and muggy, and the air felt thick on Toushiro's face, but he was slowly growing used to the temperature. For the first time, he was glad his reiatsu was so firmly tamped down - had it been active even the slightest amount, he would be sick almost instantly. Even so, the heat sometimes made him nauseous.

"Toushiro, are you okay? You're not sick again, are you?"

The voice was Due Huu's. He was fourteen and currently the oldest (living) boy in the orphanage, and the moment Toushiro had stepped into the tiny, cramped shack where he and the others lived the taller boy had stuck to Toushiro's side like glue. According to the memories Division 12 had given him, Due Huu and Toushiro were practically inseparable.

Hitsugaya huffed irritably just thinking about it, but dutifully answered, a ghostly scowl playing on his pale lips.

"I'm fine. You know I prefer the rainy months." he said, scuffing the dark brown earth beneath his feet with a ragged shoe. Due Huu laughed at that, leaning back against the trunk of the massive tree he and Toushiro were taking shelter under. Diu Phuong, the middle-aged woman who looked after the orphans, had sent them off to help the village men hunt a vicious wild pig which had been storming through the village's crops recently, but the white-haired preteenager's baited trap had worked all too well. The boar had been caught and slaughtered within the first hour of daylight, and now they had a considerable amount of free time as long as they avoided the adults.

Due Huu shook his head.

"I know, you're crazy." he said easily, standing and offering the shorter boy his hand. He grinned. "The Caucasian blood in you makes you less resistant to the heat."

Toushiro rolled his eyes and allowed Due Huu to pull him to his feet.

"Oh, don't be stupid." he sighed. "Shouta can't handle the heat either."

Due Huu laughed.

"Eh, maybe it's the Japanese in you two then." he smirked, and Toushiro flicked his fist out and punched the other boy's shoulder.

"Or maybe you're just stupid." Toushiro deadpanned. "I get sick easy - always have. Shouta is just lazy."

The other boy laughed again, then peered up through the thick jungle branches to locate the sun.

"Aw, we've got to get back or we'll miss the food." Due Huu said with a frown, his wide face curving into a dejected frown that had Toushiro smirking in schadenfreude, quite willing to return to the dank, dark orphanage interior if only to gain a brief respite from the sticky heat.

"So sad." Toushiro drawled sarcastically, earning himself a friendly swat over his head, which was easily dodged. Due Huu whined for a moment, then pushed him into one of the many overhanging branches lining the narrow jungle pathway. Toushiro growled irritably and pulled himself out of the brush, following sulkily after Due Huu. The boys wound through the thick vegetation with ease, following the dirt path back to their village.

They emerged, blinking, into a brighter clearing among the trees, where a sprawling network of rundown single-story shacks and bungalows lay nestled beneath the verdant emerald foliage. A long dirt road occupied by a few stray wagons bisected the small village, and Toushiro knew from maps that at the other end of the road was the internet-equipped town he needed to get to to establish contact with the Hydra-based SHIELD agent who would help smuggle him into the United States. However, despite this knowledge, the road was still an ugly brown stripe through was was almost a mud pit. The ground here was so damp that the walls of several homes had sunk, and now the roofs hung crookedly on their rickety frames. The jungle was encroaching on all sides save the fields of crops at one side of the village, which were carefully tended by men and women alike. Several of their fellow orphans were there now, burying animal refuse and decomposing plants for fertilizer and pulling the weeds from the dirt.

A large chicken strutted by them, pecking at the ground for insects and Toushiro knelt down, patting its feathers absently.

"Reminds me of you." Due Huu said, grinning. "Strutting around like you're a golden prize."

"When in reality I'm mere prey at the mercy of those who own me." Toushiro finished dully. Due Huu frowned, then leaned down and pulled his friend - or the boy he remembered to be his friend - to his small feet.

"Hey, quit that." he scolded. "I hate when you're in these moods."

Toushiro forced an apologetic smile to come to his lips.

"Sorry." he said, a touch stiffly. "I can't help it."

Due Huu sighed.

"I know. Come on, let's go."

The pair dropped into the village below.

* * *

"Shh, it's okay. You're going to be alright."

Lien Anh sniffled miserably and just buried her head in Diu Phuong's shoulder, her ruffled black hair snarled on her little head. Diu Phuong sighed, rubbing circles into the eight-year-old's back and gently rocked the new orphan back and forth as she wailed. Lien Anh was a new addition to the tiny, five-room building which housed the sixteen orphans currently living in the village, and she was still crying over her mother's death three weeks later.

Diu Phuong, the poor beleaguered woman that she was, looked up helplessly as another of her many charges came trudging through the door, looking decidedly worse for the wear and supported by his disgruntled junior.

"Due Huu, what have you done to yourself this time?" Diu Phuong sighed, exasperated. "Toushiro, be a good man and try to see if you can't calm Lien Anh down."

Toushiro sighed and cracked his shoulders irritably as Due Huu tumbled forward into Diu Phuong's waiting grasp. The stern woman clucked her tongue in disapproval, taking the fourteen-year-old's face in her strong, worn hands and twisting his head to get a good look at the damage. Due Huu sported a bloody nose and split lip, and judging by the way he was walking he'd suffered a knee to the crotch. But the boy grinned guiltily and shrugged his shoulders.

"Your labor man came around again and tried to cart me off." he said sheepishly. "I told him to get lost and he busted my face."

Diu Phuong's face went pale, and tears welled in her eyes.

"So he's back, is he?" she asked quietly. "Due Huu, you know I can't shelter your from him if he wants to take you. I have all the little ones to think about, and he won't fund this orphanage if I don't turn you over to him. You're fourteen now - that's the taking age. Unless you find the money to pay him off and escape the country, he owns you."

Due Huu rubbed his nose, fear stealing across his face.

"I...I know. I'm trying." he said softly, tears welling in his eyes. "I hate him."

Diu Phuong ruffled his black hair gently.

"I do too, but we have no choice." she said gently.

Toushiro half-listened, too busy trying to calm the small girl crying into his chest, but he had a vague idea of what the pair were talking about, and he could feel the faintest purr of ice stir in his chest. Hyourinmaru must be pissed for the icy flicker to seep through his gigai's concealing power.

"Sh-shirou-nii..." Lien Anh wailed, and Hitsugaya had to close his mouth on the instinctive retort of 'It's Hitsugaya-taicho.' He forced gentleness into his voice, tousling the distraught little girl's dark hair

"You're safe now, Lien Anh." he whispered softly into her hair, and the small girl hiccuped.

"I...I want my...my mom..." she sobbed, and with a quick glance over his shoulder at where Diu Phuong was cleaning up Due Huu's bleeding face he swept the crying girl up into his arms.

"You'll see her again, little one." Toushiro said, his heart softening. Death was one of the few things he felt comfortable enough with to concoct believable lies about. "She'll be waiting for you - watching over you your entire life until you follow her up into the stars and watch your own children in the same way."

Lien Anh sniffled again.

"B-but I want...I want to see...see h-her..." She whimpered, and Toushiro sighed, entirely aware of how little he could relate to the girl crying in his arms. His own mother had purposefully abandoned him, and ever since he'd hated her. But suddenly Natasha's laughing face flickered before his eyes and Matsumoto's ditzy grin followed soon after. He smiled sadly - he wouldn't call them 'mother-figures' per se...but those two were important to him in a way few other women would be.

Perhaps he could relate better than he thought.

"I know, little one. I know." he murmured. "But since she's not here, you'll just have to do your best to make her proud. That way, you still have a little piece of her heart with you. Okay?"

Lien Anh blubbered a bit more, but eventually she nodded and Toushiro picked her up and carried her back to the small room that she shared with eight other girls, tucking her securely under the blanket that she, Kim Hoa and Cam Qui shared at night. Then he sighed and cracked his back, tired, and returned to the larger room which doubled as a dining and living room. Due Huu was fixed up nicely by the time he returned, but an imposing shadow stood in the doorway, watching with a sneer in his dark eyes.

"Diu Phuong, I believe that the boy you have there belongs to me now." the man said, his voice gravelly, and Diu Phuong's gaze lowered, her face averted. Due Huu looked panicked. Toushiro watched from the shadows, puzzled briefly by the behavior, and then remembered with a flicker of fright the information from the file he'd read. The reason that SHIELD had chosen this particular orphanage was because the man who sponsored it took away some of the children who weren't adopted by their fourteenth birthday and sold them off for forced labor and prostitution. It would give him a reason to want to escape, and immediately after he was arrested and interrogated, the UN would have the cause they needed to intervene.

But nonetheless, Toushiro felt his fingernails spear into the palms of his dirty hands, drawing a trace of blood.

"No...no, wait! I'm still trying to get you your money!" Due Huu pleaded, ducking under the man's outstretched hand. "Give me more time!"

Toushiro tensed, preparing for a fight, then cried out in shock as a strong hand seized his upper arm in a painful grip and dragged him forward, into the light. The labor man, Diu Phuong, and Due Huu turned and stared at him for a brief, horrified second, and then the labor man's face split into a smile.

"Ah. The sweet little one was listening, was he?" he asked, his tone sly. Toushiro stiffened, his emerald glare narrowing to thin jade slits, and jerked viciously. The man who had his upper arm in an iron grip glared and with one swift motion twisted his arm behind his back. Toushiro let another cry of pain bleed from his lips, despite the deep wound inflicted on his pride. Damn the gigai and its limited strength!

The labor man came close, tipped Hitsugaya's pale face up to look at him. His dark eyes were appraising.

"Your face is thinning out, kiddo. It's turning you even prettier than you already were. Such money I could make off you..." the man said, and Hitsugaya snarled wordlessly at the term of endearment and ensuing implication, twisting violently in his captor's grip and spitting saliva furiously at the pair of goons. The labor man watched for a displeased second, wiping spit off his face, then backhanded the white-haired preteen with enough force to send him sprawling limply in his hefty captor's grasp. Toushiro's head snapped to the side, the man's knuckles striking his temple with a dull thwack and didn't move from there, his head lolling forward, his body wilted in on itself. He'd been knocked out.

Diu Phuong screamed at the two men, and Due Huu started yelling, leapt forward to drag the unconscious Hitsugaya from the bastards' clutches. The labor man laughed coldly, then nodded, and his henchman tossed Toushiro's limp, ragdoll frame into Due Huu's waiting arms, sending the boys tumbling to the dirt floor.

"You can have your extra time, Due Huu." he said nastily. "You get one month to leave the country and pay me 10,000 US dollars. But it comes with a price. Regardless of whether or not you make the payment on time...when I return next month, I'm taking your pretty young friend with me."

Diu Phuong reached out, took the man's cloak in her hands, her eyes wide.

"You can't!" she wailed. "That boy is too young! He will not be fourteen for another three months!"

The labor man scowled coldly and slapped Diu Phuong across the face. She fell back, whimpering and clutching her burning cheek.

"I can, and I will, and if you oppose me I will leave you and these brats here to rot, Diu Phuong!" he raged, slamming his fist into the rickety wooden doorframe. Then he calmed, his face turning to ice.

"I will see you in a month, Due Huu. I do hope you can pay." he said, his lips curling nastily, and strode out the door, followed by the thug which had accompanied him.

A heavy silence fell. Toushiro lay motionless in Due Huu's arms, his eyes closed, and Diu Phuong knelt crumpled on the ground, holding her cheek in her hand. Slowly, several pairs of eyes emerged from the darkness, the other orphans looking on in horror. The walls of the orphanage were thin - they'd all heard with perfect clarity what had happened.

After a time, Diu Phuong regained herself and stood, looking around with a red handprint on her face and tears in her eyes.

"Be Chau, Kim Hoa, you girls see that the soup is cooking properly." she said, her voice trembling slightly. "Due Huu, Thanh Minh, carry Toushiro to the boys' room and put him on top of the blanket for me. I'm going to try to wake him. Shouta, run to my brother's house. Tell him what just happened, and ask him to come and speak with me this evening."

The nine-year-old boy nodded and glanced down at Toushiro, his face worried.

"Sh-Shirou-nii will be okay, won't he? The labor man won't take him away early, will he?" Shouta asked, his lower lip trembling. Diu Phuong shook her head.

"I don't know, child." Diu Phuong admitted, watching as Toushiro was carried awkwardly into the boys' bedroom. "I just don't know."

Shouta shivered, scared, but darted out the door anyway to keep a brave face, and the two girls that Diu Phuong had previously spoken to crept out of the kitchen, their eyes wide.

"The soup is done, Diu Phuong." Be Chau said, her voice quiet. As a new thirteen-year-old, she was acutely aware of the imminent danger turning fourteen would bring her, and the confrontation with the labor man scared her much more than anything else had. Diu Phuong smiled wearily at her.

"Give it out to the youngest children first, like always. And set aside a bowl for Toushiro, if you would." she replied quietly, then vanished into the dark room where the boys slept. Due Huu had Toushiro's head on his knee and was gently tapping at his friend's pale face, trying to rouse him. Thanh Minh, an eleven-year-old who had always admired the two oldest boys, was seated at the snow-capped child's side, watching him with undisguised worry.

"Move aside, you two." Diu Phuong said, her tone motherly, and Due Huu and Thanh Minh scrambled to do as they were told. The matronly woman took Toushiro's face in her palms, cupping a smooth cheek with her fingers and tenderly tracing her fingers over the swelling lump were the labor man's knuckles had struck. A spectacular purple bruise was forming there, the discoloring slowly spreading down into the pockets under his closed green eyes. Diu Phuong bit her lip, then pressed gently on the bruised area.

Toushiro moaned but did not wake, a flash of unconscious pain crossing his face briefly. Diu Phuong breathed deeply, the scent of damp earth filling her nose, and turned to the hovering boys with a stern expression.

"Thanh Minh, draw a bucket of fresh water from the well and take one of the small cloths from my room, then bring both back here. Due Huu, run and fetch the healer to examine this." she ordered.

The boys scurried away, and Diu Phuong shifted the unconscious young teenager's head into her lap, stroking his hair gently. He didn't stir in the slightest, still deep within the folds of his own consciousness, and Diu Phuong bit her lip.

Several minutes later, Thanh Minh came back in with the bucket of water and a square of cloth. Diu Phuong tested the water temperature for a moment and sighed with relief to find that it was moderately cool. She dipped the rag in, wrung it out, then laid the cool, damp cloth across Toushiro's brow, trying to keep the swelling under control . He whimpered at that, a faint, pitiful noise that would never have come from him if he was conscious, and she prayed silently that he wouldn't become heat-sick on top of the head injury he'd sustained.

Diu Phuong continued to wet the rag, wring it out, and place it on the boy's swollen forehead until Due Huu arrived panting with a kindly old man named Elouan, the village healer. The old man froze at the sight of the unconscious boy, then knelt slowly down next to the young man, his face concerned.

"How did this happen?" he asked softly, brushing over the hard lump on the side of Toushiro's head. Diu Phuong sighed.

"Duong Quan struck him." the poor woman said softly, her grief evident. "Elouan, he's going to take Toushiro early...and he keeps saying that the poor boy is pretty. If that means what I think it means..."

Elouan's old face changed to helpless anger, and he bowed his head for a moment.

"The poor, unfortunate child." he agreed quietly. "I have known your labor man a fair number of years - and he would not say such things if he thought there would be greater use for the boy as a source of slave labor rather than prostitution."

Diu Phuong let out a soft sob, then stood and moved towards the door.

"I...I will return to the children to serve dinner." she said, sniffling. "Do what you can for him...and please, if he wakes, break the news gently. He was struck down before he could hear of that awful man's plans for him."

Elouan nodded gravely, then opened his crinkled, musty leather satchel and pulled out a small tin of his specially-made poultices.

"Go, I know what I am doing." he stated firmly. Diu Phuong nodded and left without another word, and Elouan began to work. Toushiro woke almost thirty minutes later, after Elouan had left and Due Huu had returned from eating to watch over him.

He blinked in mild confusion, then the swirl of lightheaded sickness hit him and he closed his eyes again, groaning. His head was wrapped with clean rags and judging by the cold, minty burn on his skin there was a healing poultice or three smeared on the underside of the cloth. His head hurt, but he could think clearly, and he knew instinctively that he didn't have a concussion. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from having a massive headache.

"Toushiro, are you awake?" Due Huu asked carefully, his voice soft. Slowly, the quiet noise and dim light gentle on his throbbing head, Toushiro nodded, still feeling dizzy and sick.

"...Due Huu?" he asked weakly, rubbing at his eyes. "What...what happened?"

The other boy's dark eyebrows shot into his hairline.

"You don't remember?" he asked, worried, and Toushiro scowled.

"Didn't want to have to think..." he groaned, remembering painfully the explosion of light and sound and a faint ringing in his ears as he fell back down a long tunnel into the blissful darkness. The labor man's nasty face swam into his memory. Suddenly, he blinked, then stared at Due Huu in shock.

"You're...still here?" he said, disbelief plain on his face. "How...?"

Due Huu's face was miserable.

"I was given an extra month to find the money...but in return for that extra time...he's going to take you when he comes back to collect." Due Huu said, tears running down his face. "I'm so sorry...I...I didn't mean to..."

Toushiro tried to sit up, but his head let loose another throbbing round of pain and he fell backwards, grimacing. Due Huu shot to his side, smoothing his white hair away from his forehead with frantic concern

"It's alright..." he said, his voice strained, but inside he was panicking. It would take a month too long for the sleeper agent in Hydra to establish contact with him on the current schedule. That left him with two options: abort the mission or act early and work with actual Hydra agents.

Neither were promising options. The first was tantamount to destroying his pride - he'd be damned before he let a setback like this from ever helping him complete a mission - and the second would have SHIELD and the Gotei 13 in uproar over his safety. He paused, thought about the ramifications of the second option for another moment, then smirked wickedly.

Becoming Hydra it was. It wasn't like any of the damned humans would be able to sense the Infinity Stones in the deep confines of his gigai, and with his powers sealed he was practically invisible. If he really got into a sticky situation, he'd break the sealed pocket in his molar in which his Soul Candy was hidden away.

Due Huu still looked worried and guilty, so Toushiro coughed harshly, trying to distract the boy.

"Seriously, it's fine." he said, allowing a few notes of exhaustion to slip back into his voice. "I...I think I've found my way out of Vietnam anyhow."

Due Huu shivered a bit and chewed his lower lip.

"I...I don't know if the labor man will let you go, Toushiro." he whispered, terrified at the prospect, and Toushiro's mouth curved in a grim smile.

"Oh, trust me." he said darkly, emerald glare aglow with malicious pleasure. "If the people I'm using come through...that man won't stand a chance."

* * *

Thoughts? Leave them in that bitty box for me!


	19. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hello, dear readers. I just wanted to let you know that in the near future, the _Power of Seven_ will be officially off hiatus. I know it's been a long time since it was updated - but no more. My muse has returned.  
On another note, I would be much obliged if you would take a look at the poll on my profile. It's to decide which of my stories will be posted after the _Power of Seven_ and probable sequel is complete. Thank you very much.  
See you all soon!  
~avtorSola


	20. Projected Plans

**Guess who's back?!**

* * *

The wagon creaked wearily, the wheel-spokes rattling against the ground. Toushiro sat uncomfortably tucked next to Cam Qui, who kept playing with her ragged hair, and Due Huu, who kept himself glued to his friend's side. The white-haired boy still had the bandage tied tightly around his head, covering the purpling lump on his temple, but the indigo swelling had drained into the pockets beneath his eyes, and now he looked like a bedraggled little raccoon. It was extremely clear that Due Huu felt very guilty for the mess his friend had gotten himself into.

Toushiro, for his part, allowed the other boy to monitor him carefully. They were on their way now to take English lessons in the city and then go to the local library for some extra learning. Hitsugaya, however, was planning on using the computers there for something considerably unscrupulous. Not that anyone else knew that. Even SHIELD hadn't been informed yet - he'd only relayed a basic update through Tessa last night.

The children in the cart let out a soft cheer when the internet-equipped town came into view through the jungle. They'd been up since before the sun rose to make the two-hour wagon ride, and now the sun had just barely risen over the tree line. It had been a long journey.

Diu Phuong ushered them off the cart and into the small town, making her way to the small schoolhouse where the sixteen orphans took their official English lessons every two weeks. All sixteen of them filed inside, sat down on rough wooden benches in front of a stern old man with a greying beard and full mustache, and then quickly went to work. Toushiro made sure to emphasize his accent whenever he spoke, and to speckle his communications here and there with grammar mistakes. The teacher, though clearly aware of the issues, didn't correct him, too concerned with Due Huu's vapid forgetfulness of the imperfect tense.

The lesson - painfully jejune as it was - lasted four hours, and then the orphans were escorted to the library by a wearying Diu Phuong. She instructed them - sternly - to watch their behavior, and then drifted off towards the historical section. Toushiro glanced around him at the dilapidated little library, at the rundown shelves with worn books, and then turned his attention to the standout piece of equipment in the concrete building.

There was one computer, a chunky old thing, with an ancient, sticky keyboard and a slow-moving Internet Explorer connection, but it worked. Toushiro made a beeline for it, sliding carefully onto the rickety milk-crate stool and gently placing his hands on the keyboard and mouse. He turned the old beast on, waited five minutes more for the internet to come up, and then began typing furiously, blatantly maneuvering his way into contacting Hydra. Within moments of making contact, he had a response, and he clicked on the link they sent fearlessly, which redirected him to a secure chatroom after a minute or so.

 _ _~"Why have you contacted us?"~__

The message blinked on the screen in perfect Japanese, flashing innocently, and Toushiro glanced at the pseudonym with some derision - all numbers. Of course.

 _ _~"I want transport to the United States."~__ he wrote back, chewing on his lower lip. For a long moment the unknown Hydra agent didn't respond, and when they did, the message was short and to the point.

 _ _~"$50,000 USD and one additional service, minimum."~__

Bingo. Toushiro felt his lips curl unpleasantly, and with a certain amount of trepidation he wrote back. Here's to hoping he could beat JARVIS with this dinosaur of a computer.

 _ _~"Okay. Where you do want me to transfer the money?"~__

The Hydra agent sent him a bank account's information, and he nodded, memorizing it easily.

 _ _~"I'll deposit all $50,000 now, but I won't perform any services until after I have arrived."~__ he wrote hurriedly, fingers flicking quickly over the keyboard.

 _ _~"Terms are acceptable."~__ the Hydra agent typed back. ~ _"_ _ _Your name, description, and location will be required for us to locate you."~__

With a long-suffering sigh, Toushiro gave the unknown agent his information, then proceeded to connect to Tony's network over the internet and started to slide through the layered defenses that JARVIS provided. He had to get Hydra the money quickly so that they knew what kind of hacker he was. Suddenly his computer froze up, and he knew JARVIS has locked on to his intrusion. He scowled, punching in lines of code as quickly as he knew how, the buzzing logic that followed his algorithms washing through his subconscious in six colors.

JARVIS fought him every step of the way, patching firewalls, blocking loopholes, even redirecting his efforts to less sensitive information, but finally Toushiro managed to throw up a thin layer of slippery cyber-protection while he broke into Tony's bank account and transferred a neat $50,000 dollars to the Hydra account. While JARVIS was still occupied tearing through the neat digital sphere, Toushiro laid six false trails of data and erased his own, retreating from the system immediately after.

The Hydra agent had messaged him in the thirty-minute timespan which it had taken him to disable JARVIS and transfer the money, and he opened up the chatroom in mock surprise to see the message beneath.

 _ _~"We received $50,000 USD from Tony Stark's bank account just now. Explain."~__ it said, almost accusatory, and Toushiro quickly typed in a reply.

 _ _~"I'm a hacker, and whatever was protecting that guy's money seemed more fun to work through than a normal bank firewall."~__ he responded. ~ _"_ _ _I will be in contact with you two weeks from today."~__

The Hydra agent was silent for a long while, and then a message popped up on screen.

 _ _~"We're sending our best for you. It will take them a month to arrive. Descriptions of them will be incoming in two weeks. Also, if you do not have kin to care for you when you arrive in the United States, Hydra will help you as long as you help us."~__

 _ _~"Thank you. I'll be glad to join."~__ Toushiro typed back.

 _ _~"Then welcome to Hydra, Hitsugaya Toushiro. Glad to have you on board."~__

The screen went dark.

* * *

Due Huu curled close to him that night, when they were all sleeping peacefully in the orphanage, and whispered softly in his ear.

"Hey, Toushiro...? Are you awake...?" he hissed into the dark, the soft snores of the other boys in the small room nearly drowning out his soft question. Staring into the pitch black of the ceiling above him, the boy in question shifted slightly, drawing his head away from Due Huu's body heat.

"...yeah."

The fourteen-year-old was trembling, his fingers shaking where he'd gripped the blanket.

"...I...I found my way out of Vietnam..." Due Huu said, his eyes leaking saltwater tears. "B-but I d-don't have enough m-money or cr-credit to...t-to cover the...the both of us."

Toushiro blinked in surprise, a sudden sort of touched gratitude sweeping through him. He swallowed hard. Even though he knew that logically, Due Huu remembered an entire childhood spent in his company, it still jolted his cold soul with a flash of overcome warmth to realize how selfless Due Huu was. Here was a boy who had lived under threat of slavery for the past nine years, finally presented with his escape - and he was crying because he couldn't save anyone else.

On instinct, Toushiro reached out and took one of Due Huu's warm hands in his own cool fingers, squeezing tightly.

"Due Huu, you're a true friend." he murmured gently, jade gaze piercing the other boy through. "...I'm blessed to have a friend like you. But you don't need to worry about me. I have my way out as well. We'll both be safe by next month."

Due Huu rolled onto his back, clasping Hitsugaya's smaller palm more firmly in his own hand.

"Toushiro...will we ever see each other again? After...after we leave?" the Vietnamese boy whispered into the darkness, and Hitsugaya felt his heart clench tightly. For a long moment, he said absolutely nothing.

"...I believe that everything has an end." Toushiro murmured quietly. "But...never friendship. The bonds one makes are eternal."

He turned to look directly at the fourteen-year-old next to him, perfectly solemn.

"Due Huu...we will always be friends. No matter what happens, that bond will remain." he promised. "Even if we never see each other again, we'll always have that friendship."

Due Huu's eyes were watering, but even in the dark of their lightless orphanage Hitsugaya could tell that Due Huu wasn't allowing himself to cry. The fourteen-year-old boy fell asleep some time later, leaving Hitsugaya the sole person awake in the tiny village.

He bit his lower lip and closed his eyes.

 _"Alright, let's go."_

 _"Yes, Onii-sama."_

 _"Okeydokey, Nii-tama!"_

Tessa and Animen pulled him under into a web of color and light, pulsing gently in his mind's eye, and he blinked. The six materialized in front of him in their glowing energy-bodies, and he glanced at the Red Stone critically. She was getting pretty close to fully maturing. But then, with the rush of snow and ice echoing vastly in his ears and heart, he fell headfirst into his inner world.

The seven landed neatly on Hyourinmaru's vast, icy body, sliding down his smooth scales, and the dragon chuckled, taking pity on the smallest one - Orange - and looped his massive tail about the infant's waist and set the little boy down in the snow. Orange was still about the same size, but in contrast, Green had grown a bit since Toushiro had last visited, and as he watched she crawled over to him through the snow.

"Hisu-nii!" she babbled, tugging at the edge of his haori. Hitsugaya felt a smile twitch at the corners of his lips.

"Hello there, Green." he greeted her, picking her up in both hands and swinging the one-and-a-half-year-old Stone around once. She shrieked in laughter.

"Hisu-nii-nii!" she giggled, and with a laugh, Red came over to take the tiny Stone from her host.

"Green has been yelling your name on repeat for the past couple days." Red informed him with a vampiric grin, settling the glowing green girl on her hip. Toushiro crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow.

"That's my name?" he asked, amused, and as one all four of the coherent Infinity Stones and Hyourinmaru nodded. He rolled his eyes at the lot of them, then reached out and tapped the tiny girl on her nose.

"Good try, little one." he said wryly. "You're almost right."

Green's eyebrows furrowed together, and she opened her mouth, moving her lips soundlessly for a few minutes.

"Hisuya-nii!" she tried again, and Toushiro smiled at her.

"You're getting closer." he told the tiny child, and then sat down in the snow and leaned back against Hyourinmaru's massive, scaled body, relishing the bone-deep chill that crept through him. Tessa bounced forward.

"Red, Purple, would you two watch Orange and Green while Animen and I help Nii-tama link to the SRD via my AI link?" Tessa asked, tossing her long, glowing-blue hair behind a detailed ear. She and Animen were gaining a great deal of control over their humanoid energy forms, Toushiro observed quietly, proud of them in some unspoken way.

The four unnamed Infinity Stones retreated to stand on Hyourinmaru's other side, safely out of sight, and Toushiro relaxed slowly, allowing Animen to place one glowing yellow-gold hand on his forehead and the other on his collarbone where the Mind Stone was sealed into his pale skin. Golden energy began to swirl about the young shinigami's lean body, his left eye and his tattoo glowing bright golden-yellow. Tessa then knelt next to Animen and Toushiro, also placing her hands on her host's collarbone and temple.

Blue and yellow energy flickered over Toushiro's skin now, the swirling color spiraling in his left iris and tattoo, and suddenly he reached out with his mind and gripped the two Stones tightly by the cultured curvature of their consciousnesses. Tessa and Animen went rigid, and Toushiro's mind fell through the veil of their power, his soul shining brightly with Tessa's ebullient vivacity and Animen's calmer thrum.

He felt the weakly hissing strands of pale, plain electricity materialize beneath his telepathic touch, the electronic and digital pathways of the SRD's secure networks bubbling inside his brain, and he followed the distinctly echoing sound of tinny voices until his consciousness came to a solid, flat stop.

He opened his eyes.

The first thing he was aware of was the terrible pixelation of his vision, but as he blinked slowly the image cleared. His mind felt pressed thinly against the clear glass of the television screen - and little wonder. His mind - somehow - was inhabiting a flat, two-dimensional image displayed on a screen. Gradually, he realized that the Avengers, Matsumoto, Ukitake, Yamamoto, Odin, Thor, and a few other subordinate shinigami were staring up at him in surprise.

Toushiro shifted, eyes widening as he felt the pixels blink on and off, literally illuminating his mind as he moved.

 _~"That's weird as hell."~_ he complained, then stiffened to hear the metallic tinge of his own voice. ~ _"And even my voice is computerized! This is weird..."~_

Steve leaned forward, his expression curious.

"Um...what exactly are you doing, Toushiro?" he asked. The young captain onscreen shivered.

 _~"Telepathic projection of some kind, I think."~_ he said contemplatively. ~ _"This is my consciousness actually talking to you, so..."~_

"I do believe that is a rudimentary form of astral projection, Commander." Odin said, his stare incredulous. Toushiro turned to look at him, confused.

 _~"Astral projection?"~_ he asked. Odin nodded, a growing expression of respect on his face.

"Aye, astral projection." he confirmed. "It is an extremely advanced technique, and though a few of my people have been able to create a similar effect through meditation, true astral projection can only be expressed by one who exists in multiple dimensions at once. It is extremely difficult to master, however. That you have subconsciously tapped into this ability speaks volumes."

Toushiro tipped his pixelated head to the side.

 _~"I am a prodigy."~_ he said with a digital shrug. ~ _"And beyond that, I possess the power of all six Infinity Stones. It cannot be too unexpected."~_

Yamamoto coughed and opened one eye to regard his subordinate onscreen.

"Captain Hitsugaya, only a rare few individuals including myself and Odin have been able to truly perform astral projection with any degree of competency. It is not unexpected that you would do the same. It is merely an extremely rare ability."

Toushiro nodded, understanding Odin's shock then. He sighed.

 _~"Alright then. I have some stuff to report. Mainly pertaining to the mission. Everything happened extremely quickly, so I chose the course of action that seemed best."~_

Tony groaned.

"Is that shinigami-speak for 'everything just went to hell'? Because I got a call from JARVIS today saying that some hacker had broken into my bank account and stolen 50,000 dollars." he groused. "You weren't supposed to do that yet!"

Toushiro held up his hand in a gesture of peace.

 _~"I know, but my hand was forced. My time frame has been shortened to a single month. I had to make premature contact with Hydra."~_

"You were not authorized to do such a thing!" Yamamoto roared, flame flickering off the edges of his haori. "We cannot get our man into position on time!"

 _~"I'm well aware of that."~_ Toushiro said crisply. ~ _"As for authorization, the only authority I need is my own - this is an SRD operation. But I had no choice. My only other option would be to pull out, and I will not fail a mission without sufficient cause."~_

Slowly, the fiery old shinigami sat back down, his breath puffing angrily out of his nostrils. Toushiro turned to Steve.

 _~"I didn't want to take chances."~_ he justified calmly, though his expression looked unusually uncertain. ~ _"...one of the children made the trafficker based here angry and...well, I was the victim of it. I took a hard blow to the side of my head - knocked me out for nearly an hour. Otherwise I would have contacted you sooner."~_

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"What else happened, son?" he asked, looking concerned. Matsumoto's brow had also creased in worry, as had Natasha's and Ukitake's. Toushiro swallowed.

 _~"The trafficker, Duong Quan...he...he called me_ **pretty** _."~_ The white-haired captain shifted, his expression vaguely horrified. The entire room sat back, taken aback by the revelation. ~ _"I...I don't think he wants me for...for forced labor..."_

Steve covered his face with his hands, and Matsumoto let out a tiny, horrified squeak. Natasha stared, then stood.

"You think he would've tried to sell you into prostitution?" she asked quietly, watching as the young shinigami onscreen cringed and nodded once, the green of his icy eyes burning with cold fire. She scowled and cracked her knuckles.

"Description." she snapped. Toushiro blinked in surprise, and she clarified.

"Give me a description of this Duong Quan fellow." she demanded again. Toushiro shifted.

 _~"...Uh, why?"~_

Natasha glared at the table, then with a swift, agile movement, she pulled a dagger from her boot and slammed it into the wood, burying the blade up to the hilt.

"So I can do that to his stomach." she hissed. "And then gut him like a fish."

For a long minute the room was utterly silent, but judging by the expressions on the others' faces, it seemed that nobody disagreed with Natasha's angered explosion. Toushiro's expression softened somewhat.

 _~"I appreciate the sentiment, Onee-san."~_ he said, the sly honorific utterly distracting the Russian woman from her blazing anger. The entire table started in surprise, but Steve, catching his younger brother's eye, grinned broadly and leaned back in his chair.

 _~"However, I think that the Hydra agents which will pick me up will be able to effectively dispose of that piece of shit."~_ he said, his voice entirely too nonchalant to be talking about a man's death. He smirked. ~ _"Besides, I can't have any older sister of mine getting her hands dirty because of me. That's bad form, you know?"~_

Natasha crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you spouting sexist comments over there? Because if you are, I will hunt you down." she said, her voice dangerous. Toushiro rolled his eyes.

 _~"I value my life too much."~_ he replied. ~ _"And I'm also terrified of you with a_ _ny sort of weaponry, fists included_ _. So no. It's more that if I'm incompetent enough to need you to step in, then my skills have seriously deteriorated."~_

Natasha eyed him ominously.

"You might want to watch yourself, brat." she threatened lowly. The white-haired captain scoffed, looking distinctly offended.

 _~"Who the hell are you calling 'brat,' human?!"~_ he demanded, obviously annoyed. Natasha smirked a bit at the characteristic reaction.

"I'm calling you a brat. Brat."

Steve hurriedly interrupted the brewing spat despite the affection clearly present in the casual name-calling, his blue eyes fixed gently on his little brother's pale face.

"So when can we expect for Hydra to come in contact with you, kiddo?" the supersoldier asked, his tone light. Toushiro's pixelated emerald stare blinked.

 _~"A month. I'll have descriptions of them in two weeks."~_ the young commander said after a long moment, his brows knitting together thoughtfully. ~ _"I can pass along the descriptions just in case SHIELD's Hydra insider knows the agents sent for me."~_

There was a short silence from around the table, and then Fury sighed with irritated resignation.

"It seems we have no choice but to leave this in your hands, Commander Hitsugaya, despite the bad taste it leaves in my mouth." he acquiesced after a long minute. Then his single visible eye hardened in flinty warning. "Just know this. If you are compromised - if we catch any word that your cover is suspect - expect a violent retrieval mission. We _cannot_ let you fall into enemy hands."

At that, Hitsugaya rolled his eyes in an uncharacteristic display of teenage disregard mixed with adult condescension. A strange sort of coldness drifted through the room, the sensation of distant reiatsu echoing faintly in the corners. Steve tensed at the cold but ignored the icy memories the temperature brought up, though his reaction did stem the rise of Toushiro's ire.

 _~"Fury, you'd do well to remember that I do have an escape route should everything go to hell."~_ the young commander snapped coolly. ~ _"Namely, my ability to eject from this faux body and regain my full battle strength with a simple snap of my jaw. And to any human without sufficient reiatsu, it will look as if I've had a heart attack and collapsed."~_

"Toushiro…" Steve rebuked softly, disliking the frosty tone with which the boy was speaking. "Come on, kiddo - we're allowed to worry about you. You're very powerful, yes, but your power in the wrong hands would be apocalyptic. Besides, you know the laws of war. Who must never go on the frontlines of a battle?"

The reminder punctured the inflating balloon of Hitusgaya's annoyance with tender accuracy, and the shinigami watched in no little awe as the young commander obviously slumped in a kind of sulk.

 _~"The architects of battle strategy, which apparently includes me."~_ the young captain admitted grudgingly. ~ _"Fine, I see your point. But what evidence do you even have that this enemy you spoke to me about is even planning an attack of some kind? That's been bothering me for a while."~_

Yamamoto cleared his throat, ignoring the look of disbelief from Odin and Fury, both of whom were aware that Hitsugaya wasn't supposed to know of Dvaoudar's release. His old eyes crinkled, the bushy eyebrows twitching.

"It is inherently part of his nature." the old man said wearily. "It is his instinct to leave a trail of death and destruction just as much as it is a Hollow's instinct to do the same. If - and when - this creature discovers your existence, he will come looking for you."

Toushiro caught the glares that Odin and Fury sent Yamamoto's way with a hint of suspicion, narrowing his eyes. Thor averted his eyes from the group, unwilling to show any trace of his initial warning to the pint-sized shinigami onscreen in his expression. But even as this went on, Hitsugaya's mind was whirring at a breakneck pace. The looks that Odin and Fury had directed at Yamamoto were clearly displeased with the old Soutaicho's decision to share information. But the calmness of everyone else in the room suggested that they knew what the white-haired boy had been talking about when he'd brought up the mysterious enemy.

There was something that nobody was telling him, Toushiro realized after a moment. Something was being kept from him. But what could it be? Had this mysterious 'enemy' begun to make his move, or was it something else entirely? And, more importantly, why was he being kept in the dark about something which more than likely concerned him intimately?

The meeting continued for a few more minutes, but Hitsugaya stayed rather quiet, observing the conversation continuing with a detached sort of interest. He knew that Steve, Natasha, and Matsumoto had noticed his sudden withdrawal from the discussion at hand, which concerned the method by which prospective recruits for the SRD would be chosen, but he couldn't find it in his ability to care. Wariness crept through his cold soul.

What was being hidden from him?

* * *

 **Well, I guess y'all know the drill. Reviews, please!**

 **And fear not - if you thought this chapter was substandard, I promise that I'm trying to improve my writing quality. This was written a while ago.**

 **~avtorSola**


	21. Switching Sides

**A/N: I know it's late. Updates for this story will probably be pretty slow from here on out.**

* * *

He sat aimlessly on a sagging cardboard box, watching the strutting chickens in the coop behind the rickety orphanage with a certain mindless anticipation. It had been a month since his first email to Hydra, and since then he'd only had one correspondence with them concerning the agents who were coming to pick him up. Two of them were supposedly rather young, in their late teens to early twenties, but had incredible skill. The third was a man somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty-five years of age, and was an experienced mercenary soldier from somewhere in Russia.

If all went well, they would be arriving today to retrieve him.

He scattered a small handful of seeds over the chickenwire fence around the makeshift chicken coop and watched with some amusement as the hens strutted over to peck at the ground. Then Due Huu dropped down beside him with a smile, the worn shirt he was wearing torn on one side. Toushiro shot him a sideways glance, acknowledging his presence, then turned back to the chickens. Due Huu grinned.

"They still remind me of you, you know." he said, shoving his friend's arm playfully. Hitsugaya lifted his nose into the air.

"I have far more intelligence than a mere _bird_." he retorted disdainfully. "You, on the other hand…"

"Hey!" Due Huu leapt on him with a growl, and Toushiro yelped as he was knocked off his box and into the dirt. Then he summoned up his mischievous side - which came remarkably easily after the month of practice - and rolled, pinning the taller boy beneath his wiry muscle. They wrestled around in the dirt, shoving each other's faces into the ground and growling playfully at each other. After a moment, they started laughing, the play-fighting quickly becoming a competition to see who could pin the other to the dirt for longer.

There was a shout from behind them then, and without breaking stride, Shouta jumped on top of the two older orphans, giggling like a madman. Toushiro flashed a grin at him, squalling in protest as Due Huu sat on his stomach.

"Shouta, help me!" he called out, and the young half-Japanese boy screeched with laughter, tackling the fourteen year-old off Hitsugaya's midsection with a war cry. Due Huu yelled in mock protest, allowing the smaller, younger boy to mash his face into the dirt. Hitsugaya then rejoined the fray, smirking, and Due Huu retaliated with a war cry of his own, shoving Shouta into Toushiro's gut and toppling over on top of them, creating a dogpile with Hitsugaya lying breathless on the bottom. After a few minutes of breathless panting, the three began laughing again, and Due Huu pushed himself off his friend and the younger boy with a wide grin. He offered them a hand.

"Truce?" he asked, and Toushiro just rolled his eyes, accepting the offered hand. But then, with a sharp jerk, he pulled Due Huu back to the ground and sat on him with a smug grin. The Vietnamese boy yelped.

"Truce." he said, ignoring Shouta's laughter. Due Huu glared up at the smirking teenager, but couldn't hold his mock annoyance long. He started laughing again.

"You've always got to have the last word, don't you?" he said with a grin, accepting Hitsugaya's hand as he clambered to his feet. Toushiro considered for a moment, feeling oddly relaxed in the playful, friendly atmosphere. The hardship of his captaincy rose to the forefront of his mind, illuminating his absolute need to be the final authority on everything. He sobered without realizing it, his mask sliding back up over his face and locking firmly into place.

"Yeah, I guess." he said quietly. Due Huu and Shouta looked at him, nonplussed by the sudden distance in his eyes.

But then a loud commotion came from inside the orphanage, the sound of breaking clay echoing in the dripping summer heat. Diu Phuong's pleading wail was drowned out by the belligerent bellow of a man twice her size, and several of the young children could be heard faintly crying. Due Huu shot to his feet, looking pale, and Hitsugaya's emerald eyes narrowed. Both of them recognized that voice.

Nervously shifting his stance, Due Huu turned to look at the white-haired boy, fear clear in his gaze. He swallowed hard.

"You…you said you can get out, right?" he whispered, the heavy tread of the labor man's boots growing louder as the man exited the building and walked around the orphanage. Toushiro set his jaw.

"Yes." the single word was confident, and so when Duong Quan stepped in front of them, his nasty face twisted by expectation and pleasure, some of the tension had clearly left Due Huu's shoulders. Flanking him were two goons of forgettable face and stature, but each carried heavy iron clubs in their hands, crusted black fluid evident on the grey metal. Toushiro hissed at the sight of it, instantly recognizing the sight of old, dried blood. Shouta cowered away from the men, hiding behind Toushiro after a moment's thought.

Duong Quan approached Due Huu first, a simpering smile on his face, and grinned evilly as the fourteen-year-old trembled.

"Well now. Your month is up." he said, his voice sickly sweet. "Do you have my money, boy?"

The teenager swallowed hard, then nodded and reached into the pocket of his ragged shorts, pulling out a wrinkled wad of relatively colorful bills. The stack consisted mostly of large-numeral bills, and as the boy held it out with shaking hands, a mildly displeased look crossed Duong Quan's face. It was very clear that he hadn't been expecting Due Huu to manage to buy his freedom, but the man took the child's money and counted it. Then he grunted.

"Fine. You are no longer my concern." he snapped. Then he swept a beady gaze onto Hitsugaya. "But the pretty one, however, will have to come with me now."

Toushiro tensed as the cruel slaver pulled a pair of heavy leather restraints from his belt and stepped forward. He let his lips peel back in something like a snarl, acutely aware that his gigai's limited strength would not benefit him if the men were to attack. He'd be subdued in minutes. Due Huu stepped between the labor man and his friend, eyes wide.

"Wait - Toushiro has already found his way out-"

"That wasn't our deal." Duong Quan cut the boy off sharply, malice entering his glare. "I gave you an extra month, and in return, your pretty little friend is mine. I don't recall allowing him to buy his way out of my service."

Toushiro felt his stomach drop as Duong Quan smiled coldly at him, obviously seeing nothing more than a child with a pretty face and a slight figure - easy to abuse. The tall man took a step towards him, false kindness on his face.

"If you behave like a good little boy, I can promise that you won't be mistreated." the man said pleasantly. "But otherwise…I have plenty of customers who get off on others' pain."

The lack of a Hydra presence was like a gaping void at his back, and despite the roaring of his pride crying for him to stand his ground, Hitsugaya knew he wouldn't stand a chance. He took a nervous step away, knowing that his face was paling rapidly, and then with one last glance at Due Huu, he bolted. But he didn't get far. The crushing pain of one of the iron clubs slamming into his knee with deadly force and the sharp gunshot-crack as his leg broke sent him tumbling into the muddy dirt road in front of the orphanage, his face white.

Toushiro felt real panic rising in his chest as he screamed silently, his broken leg twisted awkwardly behind him, obviously unable to bear his weight. The gigai's humanizing power didn't help either, allowing what a shinigami would consider a bearable injury to send Toushiro's keen mind into a fog. The only thing he was truly conscious of was the pain flaring up his thigh in white-hot bursts of crippling agony. He vaguely felt Duong Quan's hand close around his throat, brutally choking him, and spots burst across his vision as his oxygen supply dwindled. Due Huu's screaming was audible in the background, as was Shouta's and sobbing of the other children in the rundown orphanage.

Suddenly the air split with thunder, and Duong Quan's hand slackened. Toushiro blinked the dancing lights from his eyes, gasping for breath through the shock of his injury and asphyxiation, then watched in mute surprise as the tall man slumped over sideways, cruel eyes glassy. The corpse hit the ground with cold finality. Silence fell. Even Duong Quan's two henchmen were silent.

Then a young woman with long reddish-brown hair in loose curls appeared over him, her dark eyes strangely gentle. She reached out slowly, sliding her fingers to the side of his neck. He flinched at her touch, the bruising on the sides of his throat protesting the contact.

"Are you Toushiro Hitsugaya?" she asked in heavily accented Japanese, her voice throaty. Toushiro nodded weakly, then choked.

"Hail Hydra." he coughed out, and the young woman of perhaps nineteen years smiled with a slight bit of relief.

"Pietro, Axel, this is him." she called out. "It seems your bullet was not wasted, Axel."

Toushiro turned his head to see a tall man with a permanent scowl and a graying beard emerge from behind a nearby sagging builiding. In his hand was a powerful-looking gun, and strapped to his belt were two pistols accompanied by lots of ammo and several wicked-looking knives. This man's eyes narrowed as he saw the child lying in the street, biting back cries of pain.

"I don't waste bullets, girl." he grumbled. Then he scowled deeper, approaching the prone boy with a calculating look in his blue eyes.

"The package is damaged." he noted with some disapproval. His glare shifted to the lonely matron of the orphanage, behind which most of the children were hiding, Due Huu and Be Chau excluded. Diu Phuong shrank back slightly from that cold glare. The young woman with rich brown hair sat back on her heels, sliding her attention to the awkward angle of Toushiro's leg. She frowned as well.

"We can carry him, then." she said with some finality. "But the bone will have to be set when we return to our base."

Axel rolled his cold eyes, then glared into the brush behind him as a young man with pale blond hair and a scraggly beard stepped from the bushes. The young newcomer grinned sheepishly at the older man.

"I did a patrol lap - seems that guy was part of the local human trafficking ring. Nobody who will be missed." the blond said with a shrug. He shook some leaves from his hair, then frowned down at the young woman, who was currently examining the broken bone. Toushiro's face was still pale from pain, obviously not fully aware of his surroundings.

"Ah, the boy is hurt." he said, his voice sounding concerned. "How bad is the injury, Wanda?"

Wanda lifted her face, her brow furrowed.

"He will not be able to walk." she decided, and turned her attention back onto Hitsugaya's white cheeks. "Can you carry him, Pietro?"

The young man shrugged nonchalantly, then walked over and squatted down beside them. He smiled in a friendly sort of manner.

"You're Toushiro, right?" he asked. "The boy who hacked through an intelligent computer system?"

Hitsugaya blinked up at the mop of pale hair, noticing absently that it was about the same color as his own, albiet a few shades darker and yellower, then nodded weakly. Pietro's eyes lit up in a grin, and he laughed.

"Damn." the one word was full of appreciation, and Hitsugaya felt himself instantly warm to this likable young adult. Then Pietro slid his arms under Toushiro's thin shoulders and thighs, a look of warning on his face.

"This may hurt a little." the man said, his accented voice tinged with a veiled apology, but then he stood and picked the boy up, and Toushiro wheezed in pain as his broken leg shifted position. It burned like fire - how the hell did humans survive with such a low pain tolerance?

Then Due Huu stepped forward, his expression wary.

"What are you going to do with Toushiro?" he demanded, gaze flickering from Wanda to Pietro to Axel and back again. Pietro grinned reassuringly at the fourteen-year-old.

"We will take him to America - after all, he paid for it." the young man said easily. The children in the orphanage noticeably relaxed, as did Due Huu, but then the two goons with iron clubs marched forward, scowling deeply. Duong Quan's body was stepped over, ignored entirely.

"Now, hold up. That kid is our property." one of the two snapped. "He's coming with us."

Pietro, Wanda, and Axel all just stared at the man, unimpressed. And then Wanda raised her hands. Red energy wreathed her fingertips and wrapped around the tall man's throat, lifting him into the air. Her dark eyes glowed with a spark of red light, the sinuous twisting of her fingers somehow both innocuous and malicious at once. The man who had spoken scrabbled at his throat in horror, eyes going wide, his lips turning blue. Wanda watched evenly, her expression unemotional. Then she dropped her hands and the red energy disappeared. The man fell gasping to the ground, hacking violently.

"I do not think," the young woman said quietly, "that you wish to cross Hydra."

The man who was still standing was a ghostly shade of white, the iron club in his hand held protectively in front of him, and at the sound of Hydra's name he backed away hurriedly, glancing down at Duong Quan's body. Axel grunted in grudging approval, then turned away and headed back into the jungle from where the Hydra agents had come. Diu Phuong, on the other hand, stared at the young woman in something like horror mixed with vague confusion.

"You…you are a witch…" she whispered. Wanda merely looked at her.

"I am not a witch." she said in that throaty voice of hers. "My powers are the result of experimentation I and my brother willingly underwent with a power source from another world, a world perhaps similar to the world of the alien Chitauri that attacked America last year. It is science, not magic."

Diu Phuong looked unconvinced, but Toushiro let the tension release from his shoulders, knowing that Pietro would pick up on his acceptance of the story. Then Due Huu walked right up to the young woman, his jaw set.

"You…you can protect Toushiro, can't you?" he said shakily. "So please, help him get away from here safely."

Wanda gently put one of her hands on the boy's shoulders, her dark eyes warm.

"Of course." she promised. Then she turned to Pietro and the young teenager wincing with pain in his hands.

"Shall we go, Pietro?" she asked lightly. The pale-blond man nodded. And then with a flash like quicksilver, they were gone, racing into the Vietnamese jungle at speeds Toushiro didn't even know that existed outside of Shunpo. He stayed suitably quiet, unable to prevent a hint of real uncertainty to mix with his feigned timidity. Wanda's powers felt uncomfortably familiar, and Pietro's incredible agility and speed hummed with a similarly golden thrum. Even with the cloaking power of his gigai…

He swore he could feel Animen's touch lingering on their DNA.

* * *

 **And hello, Pietro, Wanda! Who's excited for this?**

 **Review, please!**


End file.
